The 1984 election was historic. President Ronald Reagan was able to carry 525 electoral votes against Mondale’s meager 13, making it the largest victory margin in a US presidential race ever.
So how could we not include the “Morning in America” ad on our list? Also known as “Prouder, Better, Stronger,” the ad was a critical piece of the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign that launched incumbent Ronald Reagan to victory.
Who can deny the patriotism that oozes from each frame of this gushingly wholesome campaign ad? While watching this cheerful montage of everyday Americans doing everyday American things like moving into new houses, going to work, and getting married, all I am thinking is, “GO AMERICA!” The only thing missing is the apple pie cliché.
It really doesn’t get more American than a firefighter raising the good old stars and stripes. By the end of this video, chances are you’ll be crying tears of red, white and blue.
This successful motivational ad instilled optimism among Americans who, at the time, had just suffered through a tough recession. “It’s morning again in America” is a clever metaphor for national revival. That was exactly what America needed, and voters granted Reagan a second term as President and woke up to a fresh start.
If the ad feels familiar – it should. It was created by the highly-successful San Francisco ad man Hal Riney, who launched his career with the prototypical soft sell “Wedding” ad for a California bank and went to create hundreds of award-winning ads. It was the “Wedding” ad that sparked the “We’ve Only Just Begun” hit from the Carpenters duo, not the other way around.
Riney himself is the voice heard in the “Morning” commercial and his signature voice was heard on many national ads.
The inclusion of a commercial agency adman like Riney on any campaign team is not standard practice. In fact, most political advertisements are created by political consultants, who do not necessarily have any formal training in the art or science of advertising. In general, Republican campaigns have used commercial agencies more often than Democratic campaigns, but for various reasons (including the high cost of commercial agencies and their longer production schedules). That’s why political ads often look so amateurish – because they are usually created by firms with more expertise in politics than in advertising.
Did You Know? First Lady Nancy Reagan disliked the dry “hard-sell” ads created for Reagan’s 1980 campaign, so she suggested something more lighthearted – ultimately leading to the creation of “Prouder, Better, Stronger.”