The "Daisy" Ad

What is amazing about the 1964 "Daisy" ad --- created by Tony Schwartz, who died on Sunday at 84, is that it is so etched in people's memory, even those who weren't even born yet.

I saw it in a high school politics class in the 1980s, and I never forgot it.

The ad is said to have ushered in a new era of negative political advertising, even though it was shown only once during President Johnson's campaign against Barry Goldwater. In fact, Goldwater isn't even mentioned in the ad, but the implication is there: That he was a warmonger who could not be trusted (irony of ironies with the escalation of the Vietnam war the following year.)

In the spot, a little girl is shown counting the petals off a flower, until her recitation of numbers blends in with the stark voice of the countdown of a launch of a nuclear warhead. Johnson's voice is heard saying, "We must either love each other, or we must die."

It created enough of a stir that it was immediately pulled.

While the ad may be blamed for contributing to a more caustic era of political discourse, or even to a trend of depressed electoral turnout, the spot's endurance after all these years underscores just how few political advertisements are all that memorable or creative. Very few stray from feel-good images of candidate and family or sinister-looking images of opponent.

On the morning that the Clinton campaign unveiled its infamous "3 a.m." ad, comparisons were instantly made to "Daisy," even if its impact was much different some 44 years later.