History repeats itself in copycat fashion

For those of you in the know, HHG Theatre is developing a new play called DAISY, which is the story of the creation of the most infamous (and effective) political television commercial ever produced. The ‘Daisy’ ad was created by Tony Schwartz and staff from the historic firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1964, as part of the campaign to elect President Lyndon Johnson.

Some might ask: why write a play about this today? What’s the relevance?

Well, as both Canada and the US are set to launch into our own election campaigns for our next round of leadership squabbles (2015 and 2016, respectively) the plague of negative advertising has never been more pervasive. To say that ethics and wisdom have been drained from our democratic processes is a gross understatement.

But enough of that.

How famous is the ‘Daisy’ ad, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary this past September 7th? Enough so that it was just played homage to in a copycat ad being used by Republican nominee Rob Astorino in his fight against Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the race to be Governor of New York.

Of course, it’s one thing to use the imagery of the ‘Daisy’ ad when the question was over the use of nuclear weapons. It’s another thing to use it in the more street-level squabble of political corruption.

But the ad itself, and the tactics it employed of appealing to voters emotional triggers over their rational considerations, is far from obsolete.

Stay tuned for more, including some big news about a commission of DAISY from a New York City off-Broadway company.