Fear‑based campaign ads can grab attention, but whether they win votes is less clear

by Monique Mitchell Turner, Michigan State University, [This article first appeared in The Conversation, republished with permission] On a Monday night in September 1964, television viewers watched a little girl counting petals on a flower. Her voice gave way to a man counting down, and then a nuclear blast filled the screen. The ad ran as a paid spot only once, in support of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s reelection campaign. It never mentioned his opponent, republican Barry Goldwater. The ad played on a fear voters already held, that Goldwater might start a nuclear war. Republicans protested loudly, Democrats pulled the spot, and the uproar got it rebroadcast in full on network news. Formally titled ‘Peace, Little Girl,’ this political commercial was produced for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 campaign against Barry Goldwater. I study how emotional appeals persuade, from how viewers’ moods shape their reactions to political ads to how anxiety drives people to seek out, and sometimes fail to absorb, information about threats. The LBJ “Daisy” ad shows why political campaigns to this day continue to reach for fear, and it hints at why the payoff is less predictable than you might think. Why campaigns use fear Fear is
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