The Worst Political Ad of 2024

Between television and the internet, this year we are being barraged with more political advertising than ever. Most of it is forgettable. But occasionally one or two ads come along that are memorable – most often, because they are memorably bad. This past week, I saw one that is award-worthy as one of the worst ever. It came from a group supporting Kamala Harris called “Creatives for Harris.” It had a very specific strategic purpose: to address Harris’ male voter gender gap, and not only did it fail miserably at its stated mission – it almost certainly was counter-productive, turning off even more male voters. At least two media reviewers used almost the same word to lambaste it: one called it “cringeworthy.” The other called it “cringey.” And cringeworthy or cringey it was.

The concern was that some men are just unwilling to vote for a woman candidate for President, so an ad directed at them with which they could readily identify expressing their support for Kamala Harris in unmistakably “manly” terms might cause them to reject their former reluctance and vote for her after all.

It features six alleged manly men who claim they are so masculine that they eat “carburetors for breakfast” and aren’t “afraid of bears,” while saying they also don’t fear women and will support Harris for the Oval Office.

Here’s some excerpts:

You think I’m afraid to rebuild a carburetor? I eat carburetors for breakfast

I’m man enough to deadlift 500, and then braid the s— out of” his daughter’s hair.

I’m man enough to enjoy a barrel proof bourbon … neat.

I’m a man, man

I’m not afraid of bears.

And I’ll tell you another thing I am sure as [bleep] not afraid of: women. I’m man enough to admit I’m lost even when I refuse to ask for directions.

And I’m sick of so-called men domineering, belittling and controlling women just so they can feel more powerful. That’s not how my mama raised me.

I’m man enough to support women.

I love women who support their families, women who decide not to have families, women who take charge, and I’m man enough to help them win.”

Really?  In what world would a man who has some hangup about voting for a woman likely change his mind based on such drivel?

The cast of supposed he-men is actually a bunch of low-level Hollywood actors, not “real” men in real settings at all.

The message is profoundly insulting. If I were to translate it into normal idiom, it would go something like this: “as a man, you’re almost certainly stupid, so here are some actors in fake scenes giving you stupid reasons why you should do something you don’t want to do, namely vote for Kamala Harris.” Not only is that unpersuasive, it is so insulting as to make the average guy even less likely to vote for Harris. Money down the drain.  From an advertising standpoint, it’s worse than a waste of money. It’s marketing malpractice.

Sky News host James Morrow said that it is “precisely as patronizing and out of touch as you would expect an ad made by lefty ad execs and media types aimed at ‘real men’ might be… Guys are not afraid to vote for a woman. They just don’t want to vote for an airhead.”

So in this increasingly tedious Presidential race, I’d like to thank the group “Creatives for Harris” for having provided one of the few moments of levity of this year. Try to find it yourself online, and watch it, and I guarantee you’ll get a chuckle or two out of it. And I’m man enough to share it with you.

(Colin Hanna is President & CEO of Let Freedom Ring, USA.)