Attack ads use real-life actions, words

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Note to candidates hoping to be the Republican nominee for U.S. president: Any action any time in your past is fair game for attack ads against you.

A study of advertising in Iowa, which conducts its caucuses Jan. 3, indicates attack ads account for about two-thirds of the money spent on commercials in the run-up to the caucuses, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Kantar Media Campaign Media Analysis Group said Iowans have had the chance to experience campaign commercials 17,151 times this year, of which 10,591 were negative. In terms of ad buys, $3.3 million spent on negative ads and $1.7 spent on positive ones, the group said.

By using the actual images and words of the target -- which sometimes are misleading -- the negative message can seem to be more credible than a disembodied voice making only assertions, the Times said.

"We don't need to embellish with a nasty announcer," said Steve Grand, a Republican media strategist who helped American Crossroads, a political group backed by former White House operative Karl Rove, create some of the commercials. "It's not somebody else saying, 'This person did something.' There they are. See it with your own eyes, hear it with your own ears. And I think it feels more documentary than propaganda."