Episode 1 | 3m 52s | Video has closed captioning.
Andy Borowitz, the New Yorker magazine humorist, has come up with a simple solution to the political ads that litter our TV landscape. His short comedy videos cap every episode of Retro Report on PBS, a new series that shines a light on today by uncovering the past.
Aired: 10/07/19
Expires: 10/06/26
♪ -Election season is here, and one out of every three Americans is currently running for office.
-Hello I'm Andrew Yang.
And I'm running for president.
-Cory!
-What's up?!
-I'm going to tell you something you may never have heard from someone running for president before.
-Eat my kids' brains.
-♪ -Political ads are a way for candidates to demonstrate they can perform an elected official's most important duties, like a firm handshake, looking Americans straight in the eye, and standing up for what's right without taking their shoes off, and teleporting us into the future.
Political ads seem harmless, but they can promote an unsavory product.
-Richard Nixon -- a man of compassion, courage, and conscience.
-I know sometimes you wonder, what's the governor up to?
-I'm Jerry Springer, and I want to be your governor.
-Roy Moore -- leadership we can trust.
-I'm John Edwards, and I approve this message.
-Dear God!
Our children are watching.
Should they really be exposed to content like this?
-I'm Joni Ernst.
I grew up castrating hogs.
[ Pig squeals ] -♪ Nixon now, Nixon now -There is some comfort in knowing that a few politicians do keep the promises they make in their ads.
-Donald Trump will turn Washington upside down Day One.
-Spitzer -- just imagine what he'd do as your governor.
-I am not looking to be the most popular guy.
-Mission accomplished, but that forthrightness doesn't change the fact that these politicians were able to buy advertising time to promote an often toxic product.
Where is the oversight?
♪ -Hi.
I'm Lee Marvin, just brushing up on my judo and enjoying my favorite smoke, Pall Mall.
-Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.
♪ -In the '50s and '60s, the airwaves were clogged 1 ♪ -Election season is here, and one out of every three Americans is currently running for office.
-Hello I'm Andrew Yang.
And I'm running for president.
-Cory!
-What's up?!
-I'm going to tell you something you may never have heard from someone running for president before.
-Eat my kids' brains.
-♪ -Political ads are a way for candidates to demonstrate they can perform an elected official's most important duties, like a firm handshake, looking Americans straight in the eye, and standing up for what's right without taking their shoes off, and teleporting us into the future.
Political ads seem harmless, but they can promote an unsavory product.
-Richard Nixon -- a man of compassion, courage, and conscience.
-I know sometimes you wonder, what's the governor up to?
-I'm Jerry Springer, and I want to be your governor.
-Roy Moore -- leadership we can trust.
-I'm John Edwards, and I approve this message.
-Dear God!
Our children are watching.
Should they really be exposed to content like this?
-I'm Joni Ernst.
I grew up castrating hogs.
[ Pig squeals ] -♪ Nixon now, Nixon now -There is some comfort in knowing that a few politicians do keep the promises they make in their ads.
-Donald Trump will turn Washington upside down Day One.
-Spitzer -- just imagine what he'd do as your governor.
-I am not looking to be the most popular guy.
-Mission accomplished, but that forthrightness doesn't change the fact that these politicians were able to buy advertising time to promote an often toxic product.
Where is the oversight?
♪ -Hi.
I'm Lee Marvin, just brushing up on my judo and enjoying my favorite smoke, Pall Mall.
-Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.
♪ -In the '50s and '60s, the airwaves were clogged with cigarette ads that made highly questionable claims.
-In a nationwide survey, doctors in all branches of medicine were asked, "What cigarette do you smoke, doctor?"
The brand names most was Camel.
-Yes, cigarettes were a health-giving, life-extending panacea, the kale of their day.
-[ Coughing ] -But they were so much more.
-♪ He's an independent guy ♪ He's an Old Gold filters man -Smoking cigarettes showed that you had a maverick spirit and the presence of mind to build a house out of wood and not burn it down with your lighter.
But even as the Marlboro Man rode across the range in a scenic cloud of nicotine and tar, his days were numbered.
-The senate today passed and sent to the president a bill banning cigarette commercials from radio and television.
-I really think they pulled a fast one there.
-With evidence mounting that cigarettes were bad for the American people, the government banned cigarette ads.
Almost 50 years later, isn't it time to ban political ads?
Here's the number of people killed by cigarettes, and here's the number who died while a politician was in office.
-Aah!
-These are countries that have put limitations on political advertising on TV, but in the United States, whoever has the most money for ads has an advantage.
So for now, I recommend putting warnings on our political ads.
-Warning -- will resign in disgrace.
Warning -- his people will seek revenge on enemies using traffic cones.
Warning -- will send easily traceable bank transfers to a prostitution ring.
Warning -- leadership we can trust, just maybe not alone with our teenage daughters.
-I'm Elizabeth Warren, and I approve this message.
[ Static crackling ] ♪
companion show
Retro Local is a companion initiative to Retro Report on PBS, highlighting local headlines and the historical seeds that were planted years ago in communities across the country.
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