Dan Gocke writes for Glasgow University’s Glasgow Guardian on American campaign advertisements:

This year sees not only the political fun-fest that is the US Presidential election, but also the 60th anniversary of the dependably entertaining political campaign ad. Over the years, this under-appreciated art form has flourished, and it is about time that the extraordinary minds behind these masterpieces got some of the recognition that they deserve.

Dwight D. Eisenhower kicked off the trend in 1952, producing a series of short videos in which he appeared as a megalomaniacal 1940s grammar school teacher giving stiff, no-nonsense answers to the big questions. These questions were posed by real-life, honest, hardworking Americans; people who definitely did not come across as terrified stooges coerced into asking trite, pre-written questions by threats of after-school detention and a ruddy good caning.

After these early forays into televised public relations, American politicians soon found that by adhering to certain conventions they could be sure of electoral success—or at least of producing a slew of fantastic Youtube videos. Below I outline some of these with what I feel—after one Sunday afternoon’s extensive research—are the very best exponents of their respective genres.

Full article here.