2. Learning Activity:
Fear Factor
Fear can be a particularly powerful strategy
when a candidate’s opponent is relatively
unknown or inexperienced. In this
infamous 1964 campaign commercial, the
Johnson campaign tapped into the fears of
a Cold War-weary public by juxtaposing the
innocence of a girl counting daisy petals
with a countdown to nuclear Armageddon
and implying that Goldwater would lead
the nation to nuclear war.
This learning activity took advantage of freely available web resources to
teach students core concepts about campaign commercial strategies
illustrated by examples they could watch at
www.livingroomcandidate.org.
3. Discussion Forum:
The discussion forum encouraged students to engage in active learning
and to develop critical thinking and media literacy skills by analyzing the
materials they had just watched and participating in asynchronous debates
with their peers.
4. Self Check:
An ungraded multiple choice quiz gave students instant feedback on their
mastery of core concepts from the reading.
5. Journal Assignment:
If you were a candidate for office what type of
political ad would you create?
What parts of your biography would you
highlight? Why?
Would you engage in negative
campaigning? Why or why not?
The journal assignment reinforced class learning objectives by giving
students a chance to reflect on how course concepts related to their
own experiences.
