Packaging The Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising, 3rd Edition - Softcover

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195089421 ISBN 13: 9780195089424

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Packaging the Presidency, Third Edition, is now completely updated to offer the only comprehensive study of the history and effects of political advertising in the United States. Noted political critic Kathleen Hall Jamieson traces the development of presidential campaigning from early political songs and slogans through newsprint and radio, and up to the inevitable history of presidential campaigning on television from Eisenhower to Clinton. The book also covers important issues in the debate about political advertising by touching on the development of laws governing political advertising, as well as how such advertising reflects, and at the same time helps to create, the nature of the American political office. Finally, current public concerns about political advertising are addressed as Jamieson raises the topic of ads dealing mainly in images rather than issues, and of political aspirations becoming increasingly only for the rich, who can afford the enormous cost of television advertising.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Now in a new Third Edition, Kathleen Hall Jamieson expands her authoritative analysis of political advertising, looking at the media campaigns of American presidents from the early days of the republic to the successful 1992 Clinton campaign. Throughout, an argument emerges that is subtle but persuasive; though often equivocal, and even downright sleazy, political advertising is vital in reminding voters of the choices at the heart of democracy. This new edition covers such issues as the new forms of exposition created by cable television that so powerfully affected the 1992 campaign. The wide variety of venues, including MTV and the Nashville Network, coupled with almost daily appearances on morning talk shows, afforded candidates the ability to reach audiences by the millions in "news-ads" that served as free extended commercials. Jamieson points out the success of Ross Perot's unconventional revival of the thirty-minute program spot and the increasing prevalence of "adwatchs", in which the press polices the fairness and accuracy of campaign accusations. And we see how campaign intrigue reached a new high with satellite tracking that allowed candidates to capture copies of ads as they went on the air. "We would put ads on the satellite that we weren't going to run", recalls Clinton campaign manager James Carville, "just to freak them out. Fake spots, so they would have to put some time and money together and respond to it". Entertaining and timely, Packaging the Presidency convincingly demonstrates, the successful "packaging" of presidents is a complex, and far from automatic, process.

About the Author:

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Beyond the Double Bind, Dirty Politics, Eloguence in an Electronic Age, and Presidential Debates.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195089421
• ISBN 13: 9780195089424
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 608