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"Peace Little Girl (Daisy)"

The most famous of all campaign commercials, known as the “Daisy Girl” ad, ran only once as a paid advertisement, during an NBC broadcast of Monday Night at the Movies on September 7, 1964. Without any explanatory words, the ad uses a simple and powerful cinematic device, juxtaposing a scene of a little girl happily picking petals off of a flower (actually a black-eyed Susan), and an ominous countdown to a nuclear explosion. The ad was created by the innovative agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, known for its conceptual, minimal, and modern approach to advertising. The memorable soundtrack was created by Tony Schwartz, an advertising pioneer famous for his work with sound, including anthropological recordings of audio from cultures around the world. The frightening ad was instantly perceived as a portrayal of Barry Goldwater as an extremist. In fact, the Republican National Committee spelled this out by saying, “This ad implies that Senator Goldwater is a reckless man and Lyndon Johnson is a careful man.” This was precisely the intent; in a memo to President Johnson on September 13, Bill Moyers wrote, “The idea was not to let him get away with building a moderate image and to put him on the defensive before the campaign is old.” The ad was replayed in its entirety on ABC’s and CBS’s nightly news shows, amplifying its impact.
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Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Peace Little Girl (Daisy)," Johnson, 1964

CHILD: One, two, three, four, five, seven, six, six, eight, nine, nine.

MALE VOICE: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.

(Sound of exploding bomb)

JOHNSON (voice-over): These are the stakes: To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the darkness. We must either love each other, or we must die.

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.
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Credits

"Peace Little Girl (Daisy)," Democratic National Committee, 1964

Maker: DDB: Aaron Erlich, Stan Lee, Sid Myers, and Tony Schwartz

Original air date: 09/07/64

Video courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy (accessed October 29, 2024).

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Introduction

"The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal is the ultimate indignity to the democratic process."
—Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson, 1956

"Television is no gimmick, and nobody will ever be elected to major office again without presenting themselves well on it."
—Television producer and Nixon campaign consultant Roger Ailes, 1968

In a media-saturated environment where news, opinions, and entertainment surround us all day on our TV, computer, and cell phone screens, the only medium where presidential candidates still have complete control over their images is the paid commercial. Commercials use the tools of fiction filmmaking, including script, visuals, editing, and performance, to distill a candidate's major campaign themes to a few powerful images. Ads elicit emotional reactions, inspiring support for a candidate or raising doubts about the opponent. While commercials reflect the styles and techniques of the times in which they were made, the fundamental strategies and messages have tended to remain the same over the years.

The Living Room Candidate contains more than 450 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run.

The 2020 edition of The Living Room Candidate has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.