Editing Attack ad (section)

{{Short description|Political ad meant to insult an opposing candidate or party}}
{{About|the concept in politics|the concept in business|Comparative advertising}}
{{Globalize|article|North America|date=October 2013}}
[[File:Jonesborough-whig-lewis-cass-attack-ad.jpg|right|upright=0.9|thumb|An attack ad in an 1848 issue of the ''Jonesborough Whig'' attacking US presidential candidate [[Lewis Cass]]]]
{{Political campaigning}}

In [[political campaign]]s, an '''attack ad''' is an [[advertisement]] designed to wage a personal attack against an opposing candidate or [[political party]] in order to gain support for the attacking candidate and attract voters. Attack ads often form part of [[negative campaigning]] or [[smear campaign]]s, and in large or well-financed campaigns, may be disseminated via [[mass media]].

An attack ad will generally unfairly criticize an opponent's [[party platform|political platform]], usually by pointing out its faults. Often the ad will simply make use of innuendo, based on [[opposition research]]. Political attack ads across all types of media can have different strategic aims. Some are character attacks, trying to persuade the viewer to think differently about a candidate's character in hopes that they will reconsider their perception of the candidate and who they are as a person. Another strategy is an attack on the candidate's policy or political ideas. This attempts to derail one's support for a candidate by persuading them that the candidate-under-attack's political ideas are illogical, extreme, or will be ineffective.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elmelund-Præstekær |first1=Christian |date=March 2010 |title=Beyond American negativity: toward a general understanding of the determinants of negative campaigning |journal=European Political Science Review |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=137–156 |doi=10.1017/s1755773909990269 |s2cid=145008948}}</ref>

Televised attack ads rose to prominence in the United States in the 1960s, especially since [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) regulations require over-the-air [[Commercial broadcasting|commercial]] TV stations with licenses issued by the FCC—effectively all regulated TV stations, since others would either be [[Public broadcasting|public television]] or be [[Pirate television|pirated]]—to air political ads by both parties, whether it be attack ads or more traditional political ads. Although [[cable television]] and the Internet are not required to air such ads, attack ads have become commonplace on both media as well.