Crafting A Historical Television 
Political Campaign Ad:  

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Teaching the Television Campaign:  Lessons and Resources for teaching  the continuity of history through the art of the political campaign commercial.  

Ideas and Resources:  

Question:  WHAT DO THESE IMAGES HAVE IN COMMON?     A: An Appeal to the Common Man

Inspiration for the Project:  
In 2008 during the campaign season I listened to this national public radio article on the way to school and heard this report about the website The Living Room Candidate from the Museum of the Moving Image.    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93694355


I thought this was a perfect connection to the Jacksonian Era, a time when electoral politics changed drastically  and therefore, so did campaigning.   In the Jacksonian Era, candidates had to transition from the "gentlemanly"  "sitting for office,"  to now having to "run" for office.  The era came to be known as the Era of the Common Man.  The Living Room Candidate website  has the Presidential Television Commercials from 1952 to 2008.  The website also defines the themes of campaign commercials, which was very helpful in teaching a theme or style for a candidate. The website recently added a page for creating ads right on their website.  I have also had students evaluate how the ads reflect a change in American society from the 1950s through the 1960s.   http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

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Creating Critical Consumers of Campaign Commercials By Becoming The Crafters Themselves: 

Digital Citizenship/Media Literacy:  
The goal of this project is to provide students with an opportunity to critically assess the images, sounds and words that promote a candidate for political office so that they can be aware and  prepared to evaluate the messages of political campaigning during a local or national election.  

Historical Continuity: 
Students will be able to compare and contrast the methods of campaigning for office over time and create an ad that shows appeal to various constituent groups within a historical period of time using modern formats.