The Wexner Center for the Arts is presenting “Political Advertisement X,” a compilation of advertisements from presidential campaigns from 1952 to the present, Oct. 26 through Dec. 27. Credit: Courtesy of the Wexner Center for the Arts
In case you haven’t seen enough political advertisements over the last few months, the Wexner Center for the Arts is presenting an exhibition full of them.
Opening Monday, “Political Advertisement X” is a compilation of advertisements from presidential campaigns spanning from 1952 to the present, according to the Wexner Center’s website. Its creators — New York-based artists Antoni Muntadas and Marshall Reese — make a new version of the program every four years, lining up with each presidential election.
The commercials are shown in order from oldest to newest and are completely unedited, Bill Horrigan, curator-at-large at the Wexner Center, said. Despite the lack of editing, however, meaning can still be found in the compilation.
“Certain themes come forward over the years kind of effortlessly,” Horrigan said.
An interesting takeaway from the exhibition is the consistency of the messages that keep popping up throughout history, Melissa Starker, creative content and public relations manager at the Wexner Center, said.
“There are things that are promised, there are things that are put up as a threat or a warning, and how those things sort of keep coming up, the same language keeps coming up. And so that really makes you think about, ‘Okay, well how accurate is this?’” Starker said.
As such, Starker said she recommends that anyone who plans on voting in the 2020 election see the exhibition before as a reference point to see how political advertisements function and have functioned throughout the years. She said viewers should consider what political advertisements are trying to tell them about how to vote.
Starker said the exhibition will feature several famous and infamous political ads from throughout the years, including the well-known “Daisy Girl” advertisement that aired in September 1964. The advertisement was a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign and contrasts a young girl playing with a daisy against nuclear destruction to emphasize the importance of the election.
A still from the 1964 political advertisement “Daisy Girl.” The advertisement is featured in the Wexner Center for the Art’s exhibition “Political Advertisement X.” Credit: Courtesy of the Wexner Center for the Arts
Another famous advertisement included in the compilation is “Morning in America,” which aired in 1984 as part of Ronald Reagan’s campaign and was created to emphasize the great things he represented and wanted to do for the country. Starker said “Morning in America” was specifically included to contrast “Mourning in America,” another advertisement in the exhibition from 2020 created by The Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans opposing President Donald Trump’s reelection. “Mourning in America” is a “beat for beat” re-creation of the 1984 advertisement that’s meant to show the opposite message, Starker said.
“Political Advertisement X” will be on display Monday through Dec. 27 at the Wexner Center for the Arts. The exhibition is free and will be running on a loop in the Wexner Center’s lower lobby.
