The Daisy Ad, September 7, 1964

During the telecast of David & Bathsheba on the NBC Monday Night Movie, the most controversial presidential advertisment in the history of television and politics aired. Democratic incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson approved the campaign ads depicting a typical American girl in a field of daisies. As she plucks petals from the daisy, charmingly mis-counting to ten, the voice over begins to count down to a nuclear explosion, then visuals of a giant mushroom cloud. Johnson's voice-over begins "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."

The public outcry was so great the the Johnson camp pulled the ad. It only aired once, but, despite the uproar, the advertisement is credited as the major factor in Johnson's defeat of Barry Goldwater. The campaign spot and coverage of it continued on television news programs for the remaining few weeks prior to the election.

It's effectiveness, despite the deplorable, desperate fear tactics and public protest, was not forgotten. In the 2006, the Bush campaign revived the ad's "These Are The Stakes" theme to promote democrats as soft on terror.

The Day After, November 20, 1983

Imagine if we lived in a world in which the most ghastly visuals of death and destruction were displayed on television, and schools encouraged children to rush home to watch them. Well, we do live in that world, at least we did in November, 1983.

The Day After was a special effects laden made-for-TV-movie with wooden acting and dialogue. Billed by ABC television as "the most important movie ever made," it certainly propagated the biggest build-up and publicity of any movie ever made. Tossing character development and scientific fact aside, the centerpiece was a 6 minute orgy of unimaginable devastation of a nuclear blast. Witnessed on television by over 100,000,000 adults and children, those 6 minutes exploited every potential scenario of nuclear war, including vivid scenes of human disintegration. Thanks to a mixture of big budget effects and pentagon stock footage, those six minutes terrorized the nation.

A study from the Journal of Applied Psychology reported that just the commercial build-up to the broadcast jointly depressed and horrified the nation, even by those who did not watch the broadcast; and, "that The Day After and the surrounding controversy had a substantial impact on many dimensions including the salience of nuclear war, feelings of personal efficacy, affect related to the idea of a nuclear war, intentions to engage in anti-nuclear behavior, estimates of the probability that a nuclear war would occur, and beliefs about the likelihood and desirability of survival." The timing was significant, as well, with a newly instigated President Reagan pushing his Star Wars defense system and renewed warnings against communism.

Perhaps the most abhorrent aspect of the production was that children were encouraged to watch, even if with counsel. There were reports of children hiding in closets after the fictional blast, and, of course, no one dared point out that all that nuclear fallout was just Kellogg's Corn Flakes painted white. Nonetheless, where the movie truly succeeded artistically was the unforgettable imagery, images that would linger in minds for decades. There was the moment the world stopped--in this case, a ball game-- to watch the minute men missiles lifting into the air; the quick-cut editing of human flesh melting to bone; the moment of power failure seconds before the strike; the masses of burned bodies, literally in human piles. ABC, at least, showed a nuance of good judgment by withholding commercials after the blast occurred midway through the movie. While ABC attempted to psychologically right the telecast with a Ted Koppel special to sooth the nation, it felt more like a clever strategy to recoup ad time and extend the two hour event, particularly with Carl Sagan suggesting the movie soft-peddled the true horror of nuclear war. Sagan notoriously stated that nuclear proliferation was tantamount to both the U.S. and Russia standing in waist-deep pools of gasoline, one with 3 matches and the other with 5.

Beyond the television movie's fear-mongering and pandering focus and blow by blow account of nuclear devastation, there was at least one positive result. Many Americans began to protest continued development of nuclear weapons. President Reagan, however, writing in his diary, cited the movie as "greatly depressing him" and two weeks later he deployed two additional nuclear missles to Western Europe. Ultimately, the film only heightened the arms race and fears of nuclear war.





Sources: Blackwell Synergy
Steven Church's excellent essay, The Day After the Day After
Fallout from the Day After by John Niccum