A Daisy For Peace

Posted by lakshmi on January 16, 2003 @ 3:24PM

A powerul new ad put out by the Internet advocacy group MoveOn.org will hit televisions in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and eight other U.S. cities. The 30-second spot (Real Media Required), titled Daisy 2, reworks former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's controversial election ad.

It shows a young girl picking petals off a daisy and culminates in a mushroom cloud. As the ad rolls through footage of burning oil wells and crowds of angry Arabs, the narrators voice says, "War with Iraq. Maybe it will end quickly. Maybe not. Maybe it will spread. Maybe extremists will take over countries with nuclear weapons." The final message: Let the Inspections Work.

The ad evokes not merely memories of the Cold War era but also the acrimonious election campaign of 1964, which pitted Lyndon Johnson against Barry Goldwater. Johnson's campaign withdrew the spot after a single airing due to Republican protests that it portrayed Goldwater as an extremist who could lead the way to global destruction.

But the folks at MoveOn are not perturbed at the prospect of facing the same firestorm of criticism. Moveon organizer Eli Pariser told reporters,"When the stakes are this high, when we're walking into a situation so dangerous, running a controversial ad seems like the least that we can do to make sure our leaders are thinking about the consequences."

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