Former Alberta premier and Canadian defense minister Jason Kennedy was more pointed, claiming that the spot took nothing out of context. He called it “a direct replay of his [Reagan’s] radio address, formatted for a one minute ad.”
No genre of advertising gets down in the mud quite like political ads, which can sway national opinion and elections alike. Historians often cite the infamous “Daisy” ad—which shows a little girl counting down to a nuclear blast—for Lyndon Johnson’s defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964.
![Amid a new round of tariffs, a weak jobs report, and fresh concerns about the global economy, a number of top corporate executives across sectors appear determined to defend one […]](https://static-www.adweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/brand-marketing-economic-turmoil-2025.jpg?w=640&h=360&crop=1)
More controversially, in 1988, a PAC supporting George H.W. Bush aired the notorious Willie Horton ad, which featured a child murderer enjoying weekend passes from prison to depict challenger Michael Dukakis as soft on crime. Though widely derided as a racist dog whistle, the ad nonetheless played a key role in keeping Dukakis out of the White House.
If not as venomous, the Government of Ontario’s ad certainly echoes the shrewdness of these examples. It also takes a page from Trump’s own playbook of using advertising to send a message to another country. Earlier this year, U.S. Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem appeared in an ad that ran on Mexican television.
“If you are a criminal alien considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it,” the Trump official said. “If you come here and break our laws, we will hunt you down.”
