Negative Ads - Where Do They Come From?

As I mentioned here, those negative campaign ads can be grating. They're always so...so negative. But have you ever wondered who it is that actually does the voice-overs for those ads? Well wonder no more.

NPR interviewed two of the foremost voice-over actors involved with making many of the negative ads you hear on the radio or see on TV.

One of the most telling segments of the interview was when the host asked one of them to take a simple nursery rhyme and turn it into a negative attack ad. One got right to the point.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. He said he could put himself together again. But after wasting thousands of our tax dollars, all the King's horses and all the King's men, he failed us. Humpty Dumpty. Wrong on wall sitting.”

I will never be able to listen to that nursery rhyme again without thinking about this attack ad.

There are few more like the one above that show how easy it is to 'go negative'.

Listen to the whole thing as I think you'll find it amusing and educational at the same time.