TOW #28: Lyndon B. Johnson's "Daisy Attack" Advertisement

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k

America in the 1960s was plagued with a fear of communism and the fear of a possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Politics during this time played heavily off of this fear, and during the presidential election of 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson used this fear to win the election with an anti-nuclear bomb advertising campaign. In his famous “Daisy Attack” advertisement, the Johnson campaign uses serene imagery juxtaposed with violent imagery and an extreme appeal to sympathy in order to convince the American people that he is the right choice for the election.

In its “Daisy Attack” advertisement, the Johnson juxtaposes a calm scene and quickly snaps to a scene filled with violence in order to instill fear into the audience. The advertisement begins with a young girl counting the petals of a flower, counting up from one. This pulls watchers in, as they watch and are filled with emotions. Then, the girl looks up at the sky in response to someone counting down from 10. When the timer reaches zero, a nuclear bomb goes off, implying the girl was enveloped in the explosion. This dramatic shift instills fear into the audience as they watch a little girl instantly become a victim of nuclear war. The purpose drawing this reaction from the audience was to make them feel like Johnson would protect them from an event like this from ever happening. Watchers sympathize with the girl, who was just killed, which was supposed to make people obligated to vote for Johnson.

However, this advertisement campaign blew up in Johnson’s face, as he instilled too much fear into his audience. Viewers became terrified, as it made nuclear war seem so close to happening. Because of this unsuccessful, and even countactive, approach to get people to want to vote for Johnson, this advertisement was taken down within days. Despite all this, other advertisement in Johnson’s advertising campaign saved him by only instilling mild amounts of fear, helping to win him the presidential election of 1964.

(http://www.chicagonow.com/politics-now/files/2016/07/daisy.jpg)