Bears and Wolves

Mark Schmitt does a great job drawing contrasts between the 1984 “Bear in the Woods” ad and the 2004 “Wolves will eat me” ad.

Here’s the transcript of the bear ad:

There is a bear in the woods.
For some people the bear is easy to see. Others don’t see it at all.
Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it’s vicious. And dangerous.
Since no one can really be sure who is right, isn’t it smart to be as strong as the bear?
If there is a bear.

The narrator was (I’ve learned today) the gentle-voiced Hal Riney, who did a lot of car commercials and was familiar and reassuring. And the ad didn’t just spread fear; it balanced Reagan’s “Morning in America” campaign with a logical argument for a strong defense posture. And the gentle, odd conclusion, “if there is a bear,” even if totally out of synch with the first assertion, suggested that there was still cause for optimism, that there might be no danger from the Soviet Union (as we now know there was not, at that time), but that we were prepared for anything.

This was a great ad, built around an actual argument that comes close to making sense. Even if the central theme of the ad is deceptive (we were far, far stronger than the bear in 1984; you might say we had a gun), at least it presents a position based on something more than blatant fearmongering. Moreover, it foreshadows the second Reagan administration’s efforts to draw down tensions with the Soviet Union and move to end the Cold War. As such, I don’t doubt that it irritated people like Dick Cheney, who thought that Reagan’s cooperative efforts with the Soviets after 1985 were a terrible mistake.

The wolf ad, on the other hand, has nothing to recommend it other than unintentional hilarity. As Mark points out:

There really does seem to be a creativity gap this year between Bush’s ads, which are really lame, old-fashioned hit-you-over-the-head pitches (leaving aside the fear-mongering) and some of the ads for Kerry and those created by independent groups, which manage to be, like the bear-in-the-woods ad, simultaneously clever and emotionally moving.

Here in Washington, we don’t seem to see very many Kerry ads, which is probably a good thing; indicates that Kerry expects to win, and that money is being well spent in other places. Unfortunately, we do get to see Dino Rossi and George Nethercutt again, and again, and again. Hopefully come November 2 that problem will take care of itself.