In the 1952 election, presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower enlisted the help of Irving Berlin and Walt Disney to create a commercial for his campaign. The minute-long advertisement is fun, upbeat and features Disney’s iconic cartoon animation.
This commercial was the first snapshot of political commercials. It’s immediately catchy with a fun and memorable jingle. This, coupled with Walt Disney’s fantastic animations are hard to resist. The jingle makes the message memorable while promoting a fun and friendly message that effectively gets audiences to think positively about Eisenhower.
Eisenhower was the first political figure to take his campaigning to television – this advertisement was the first ad campaign aired on TV. It was impactful to the point of becoming the topic of research in universities, being seen as an “important chapter in political broadcast history.”