One of the very first TV ads for a presidential campaign was this one, in 1952:

[MineralMan]

Interestingly enough, one of our Democratic candidates, whose name rhymes with the future President in that ad, is adding the slogan, "I Like Mike" for his supporters to use. He's also using a series of excellent, very well-produced ads on TV to promote his candidacy.

I think that's interesting.

When Dwight Eisenhower jumped onto the brand new medium of Television in 1952, he changed how campaigns would look forever.

[bluewater]

1. Waxing Nostalgic for the 1950's?

Not a good look in 2020.

Let's not roll back the clock.



"I like Ike/Mike"... subliminal message noted.

Sorry, the 1950 sucked.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, the 1950s sucked. I remember them well.

I was 5 years old in 1950. The 50s were my childhood. But, guess what? That wasn't my point at all. In 1952, the idea of a campaign putting money into creative television advertising was brand new. That's no longer true, of course, but a lot of the TV ads used by campaigns are repetitive and boring. They make very poor use of the medium.

That Eisenhower ad looks almost comical today, but that slogan helped Eisenhower win two terms.

Mike Bloomberg isn't running an ad like that one, but he's triggering memories by adding "I Like Mike" to supporters' campaign stuff. The slogan is one of the most iconic slogans ever used by a presidential candidate, and pretty much everybody did like Ike. There are still millions of voters out there who remember that slogan, mostly from their childhood. Triggering it is a useful tool to use in a campaign in 2020.

You can see who I support down at the bottom of this thread. I'm posting about campaign strategies here.

[bluewater]

6. My point is what Bloomberg is doing with the "I like Ike/Mike" messaging.

It's a subliminal call out to return to "the good old days". To go back to an old golden age "status quo".

Thanks for highlighting the obvious linkage between the 1950's "I like Ike" ad and Bloomberg's "I like Mike" slogan.



Again, the 1950's sucked for a lot of reasons. As a nation, we need to be looking forwards, not backwards.

[MineralMan]

7. It's called Neuromarketing.

All advertising jingles are Neuromarketing techniques. The idea is to create an earworm. For people who remember the old "I Like Ike" slogan and jingle, a rhyming slogan to that one will trigger that memory.

All good ads are based on triggering emotions in the brain. The reflection of that old familiar slogan in Mike Bloomberg's campaign is relatively obvious, but brilliant all the same. You aren't going to see a "I Like Mike" commercial, I think, with a jingle. However, you are going to see the slogan used by others.

Every time it is used, it will trigger faded memories in people who remember Ike, like me. There are a lot of those people around who remember and who vote.

I'm voting for Biden, but I guarantee the use of that rhyming slogan will have an impact, if only a relatively small one.

[bluewater]

8. Bloomberg's dogwhistle is obvious, but not brilliant.

He's echoing back to a racist, misogynistic, homophobic time in US history.

Too many voters, especially voters not in their late 60's or 70's, see the 1950's for the brutal repressive period it was.

It's messaging that is sure to have a strong backlash.

[MineralMan]

10. No. I doubt it will backfire at all. It triggers memory, not analysis.

The younger group you mention will not even remember that slogan or ad. The older group, like me, were children in the 1950s. Childhood memories are not analytical. They are purely emotional. For those people who actually remember Eisenhower as President, they mostly remember him as a pretty good one. Ike would be a Democrat today.

You're over-analyzing this. Simple, rhyming slogans worked in the 1950s. They still work today. They operate in the limbic system of the brain, not in the analytical parts of the brain.

If you remember "I like Ike," "I Like Mike" will trigger one set of memories. If you don't, it will just be an easy to remember slogan.

[bluewater]

11. It triggers memories of Jim Crow, Supression of Women, Declaring being Gay ILLEGAL.

Please try to look beyond your own cultural bubble and try to view this dog whistle slogan evoking the 1950's from other voting groups' perspectives.

It's just a dumb idea and has too much negative baggage.

In any case, thanks for the discussion and for agreeing that Bloomberg's "I like Mike" slogan is indeed a dogwhistle/neuromarketing attempt to evoke warm fuzzy feelings about the 1950's.

The problem is most people now see the 1950's as a truly repressive period in our history.

[Glorfindel]

2. Thanks, MineralMan. I had never seen this ad.

We didn't get a television until 1954, when I was eight years old. My parents liked Ike because of his military record, but didn't vote for him, of course. They were FDR/New Deal Democrats all the way.

[MineralMan]

4. My parents voted for Adlai Steveson, too.

But, we got our first TV set in 1952, and I distinctly remember that jingle. I'm sure, as a pesky seven-year-old, I probably even sang it a few times to annoy my parent, too.

[MarianJack]

5. Ike was president when I was little.

I was born a year and a half before the 1956 election.

Ike was a great man and a good president. He wasn't perfect, but who is?

He would look at Donald Trump with utter contempt.

RESIST!

[redqueen]

9. This post expresses my sentiments well.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=443411

[musicman65]

12. Really cool ad

thank's for bringing it up.sure things to change,but point across I was four then,,just sayin'

[MineralMan]

13. Well, it's very dated, of course.

However, for the time period, it's very well done, and reflects what people were watching on early TV. I don't know what ad agency did the ad, but it was one of the best of them at that time.

We don't really live in a "jingle world" any more, but they were very effective at the time, and the animation is typical for the period. Today's political ads are much more sophisticated, of course.