TURNING A NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN AD INTO A POSITIVE.
The Osgood File. Sponsored by Auto Owners Insurance, the No Problem People. Visit AutoOwners.Com. This is Dave Ross.
As we all know, politicians run negative ads, because they work - yet, most people hate them.
So, what to do? One activist thinks he might be able to take one of the most famous negative ads - and turn it into a positive.
More after this from Charlie...
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The most notorious negative ad so far this season is this anti-Romney ad, made by laid-off steelworker Joe Soptic.
NAT - Joe Soptic in SuperPAC Ad
"When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care - and my family lost their health care." (:06)
In the ad, he says he believes that's why his wife was reluctant to see a doctor sooner.
NAT - Joe Soptic in SuperPAC Ad
"A short time after that, my wife became ill. And that's when they found the cancer. And by then, it was Stage Four." (:05)
Most commentators cried foul - including comedian Jon Stewart, who summarized the ad with his characteristic subtlety.
NAT - Jon Stewart on The Daily Show
"Mitt Romney killed that guy's wife! (audience laughs)" (:03)
And the ad was subsequently withdrawn by the SuperPAC that put it up - and that gave Rob Densen an idea.
Densen is a CEO-turned-cancer activist. His own wife, who has never smoked, has Stage Four lung cancer.
And he wrote a piece in The Huffington Post, proposing that rather than use the story of a woman's death to score political points - use it instead to point out that in 2012, 160,000 Americans - including people who have more than enough health insurance - are going to die of lung cancer, many of whom - like his wife - never smoked.
And while most of the attention is focused on breast cancer, the American Cancer Society says lung cancer kills 80 percent more women.
So, he's launched a website - lungcancerleaders.org - to get Congress to pass the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act, and to commit to doing what it takes to cut the lung cancer mortality rate in half by the year 2020.
And in the process, to turn a negative ad into a positive solution.
The Osgood File. Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network. |
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