Anecdotal Observations On History & Politics
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at 8:39PM Arizona campaign ad: Barry Goldwater for Senate.
Advertisement, Barry Goldwater, cartoon Friday, March 25, 2011 at 2:20PM 
Check out this 1978 campaign ad for Dick Cheney for Congress in Wyoming. The setting is rather bizarre, as he's crouched on a lawn with several young voters. He appears to be defending his fitness for office, discussing his heart attack and comparing himself to other politicians that had heart trouble, including LBJ and Ike:
1978, Advertisement, Congress, Dick Cheney Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:59AM The Walt Disney Company in the 1950's was best known for Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953), but one animation is overlooked on their wikipedia page: a TV spot for presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, titled I Like Ike.
The 1952 spot, which was produced by Roy Disney (Walt's brother) and donated by Walt Disney Studios, even threw a few punches, first showing three rather hapless donkeys ("We don't want John or Dean or Harry") in a stable and then a donkey marching in the wrong direction in the background. The three are likely John Sparkman, Dean Acheson and Harry Truman.
It was the only political commercial Disney ever produced and was credited with softening Eisenhower's image. Further helping the WWII general was the fact that Adlai Stevenson hardly ran any TV advertising, refusing to be sold "like soap".
1952, Advertisement, Disney, Eisenhower, TV Monday, November 15, 2010 at 9:11AM Descibing Viagra as a "great drug," Bob Dole became the TV and print spokesman for Pfizer in 1998, just 2 years after losing the 1996 presidential election to Bill Clinton.
NDole's original TV spots are rare on the internet, however the above illustrates the gist of the campaign, as well as the below:
Notice that the World War II veteran encourages his fellow American men to have "courage," presumably because Viagra is "worthwhile," but for many, Dole's bold declaration may have been too much information.
Dole jumped the shark when he signed on with Pepsi and his reputation as Viagra pitchman preceded him. The ad below was purposefully misleading, referring to his "little blue friend" that makes him "feel like a kid again":
Perhaps even more amusingly inappropriate was Pepsi's ad with Britney Spears in which Dole makes an appearance:
Is he referring to the dog?