After campaigning through 2015 without an ad, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump produced his first television ad and it’s as tough talking as he is. Will it change the public’s perception of the billionaire candidate just four weeks before the first primary votes are cast?
Trump’s first campaign ad was released on the first Monday of 2016. The 30-second ad underscores Trump’s position on critical issues including terrorism, immigration and foreign policy while chipping in a few of his most controversial quotes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRpoG4bAwwc
It starts with a shot of Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton, alongside each other, before ushering in a snapshot of the two San Bernardino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. A deep-voiced narrator then begins, “The politicians can pretend it’s something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism.”
The narrator’s voice proceeds to outline Trump’s call for a “shutdown” of all Muslims coming into the US, declare that the GOP frontrunner would “cut the head of ISIS” and “take their oil” and ends with the narrator affirming that Trump would build the famous wall along the US-Mexico border that “Mexico will pay for.”
Reportedly costing $4 million, the ad offered a chance for Trump to reinforce his message across the mass media. It is not clear whether Trump paid for the ad using his own money or from money from some of his sponsors.
Before the ad, Trump had said he did not see the need for ads. He confidently told CBS, “Face the Nation” on Sunday, “I don’t think I need the ads, but I’m doing them. I almost feel guilty.”
The billionaire mogul is leading in early polls in all states except in Iowa where he is locked in a tough battle with Sen. Ted Cruz.
Barely a day into the ad’s running and it was already attracting criticism from the Democrats. According to Justin Barasky, communication’s director of the Hillary Clinton Super PAC Priorities USA, “Donald Trump’s new ad is more of the same disgusting and offensive demagoguery we’ve come to expect from the GOP front-runner.”