Editing Harry and Louise (section)

{{Short description|1993–94 American political ad campaign}}
[[File:1-800-285-HEALTH.png | thumb | right | HIAA toll number; 1-800-285-HEALTH (displayed in a Harry and Louise ad)]]
'''"Harry and Louise"''' was a $14 to $20 million year-long [[television advertisement|television advertising]] campaign funded by the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA){{snd}}a predecessor organization which merged into the [[AHIP (trade association)|AHIP]]{{snd}}a [[health insurance]] industry [[lobby group]], that ran intermittently from September 8, 1993, to September 1994 in opposition to the [[Clinton health care plan of 1993]] and [[United States Congress|Congressional]] health care reform proposals in 1994. Fourteen television ads and radio and print advertising depicted a fictional suburban forty-something middle-class married couple, portrayed by actors Harry Johnson and [[Louise Caire Clark]], despairing over bureaucratic and other aspects of health care reform plans and urging viewers to contact their representatives in Congress.  The commercials were ordered by HIAA president [[Bill Gradison]] and HIAA executive vice president [[Charles N. Kahn III|Chip Kahn]], and created by California public relations consultants [[Ben Goddard]] and Rick Claussen of [[Goddard Claussen]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. |author-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum | title = Returning to the genre he started
  | work = 
  | page = E01
  | language = 
  | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]
  | date = November 29, 2004
  | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18417-2004Nov28.html
  | accessdate = 2006-07-26 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Johnson, Haynes |author-link=Haynes Johnson |author2=Broder, David S. |author2-link=David S. Broder |date=May 1996 |title=The System : the American way of politics at the breaking point |location=Boston |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |isbn=0-316-46969-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/systemamericanwa00john }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Skocpol, Theda |author-link=Theda Skocpol |date=May 1996 |title=Boomerang : Clinton's health security effort and the turn against government in U.S. politics |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=0-393-03970-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/boomerangclinton00skoc }}</ref>

The couple returned in several newer advertisements pushing health care reform during the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. In 2000, Harry and Louise appeared in a TV commercial sponsored by HIAA promoting its "InsureUSA" campaign advocating the need to provide health coverage to uninsured Americans.<ref>
{{cite news
 |last        = Bunis
 |first       = Dena
 |title       = The Harry and Louise Show
 |work   = [[Salon.com]]
 |date        = January 20, 2000
 |url         = http://archive.salon.com/health/log/2000/01/20/harry_and_louise/index.html
 |accessdate  = 2008-08-21
 |url-status     = dead
 |archiveurl  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080307094934/http://archive.salon.com/health/log/2000/01/20/harry_and_louise/index.html
 |archivedate = March 7, 2008
}}</ref>

Later, they returned in an unrelated 2002 ad, produced by Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli (Goddard Claussen was purchased by [[Porter Novelli]] in 1999), advocating [[human cloning]] for therapeutic purposes on behalf of CuresNow.org. The second ad was the subject of a lawsuit by the HIAA who claimed that they owned the characters, seeking an injunction to prevent the ad from airing; however, a court ruled that the rights to the characters were held by Goddard Claussen, and it aired during a showing of ''[[The West Wing (TV series)|The West Wing]]'' on [[NBC]].<ref>{{cite news 
  | last = Larson
  | first = Mark
  | title = Revived 'Harry and Louise' ads spark a lawsuit
  | work = 
  | pages = 
  | language = 
  | publisher = [[American City Business Journals|Sacramento Business Journal]]
  | date = May 10, 2002
  | url = http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2002/05/13/newscolumn1.html
  | accessdate = 2006-07-26 }}</ref>

The ad was one of several prominent political [[attack ad]]s parodied in the [[78th Academy Awards]] (2006). An older couple sitting at the kitchen table bemoans the "foreign-sounding names" of the best actress nominees, then praises [[Reese Witherspoon]] for having an all-American name.

Harry and Louise appeared again in an ad that premiered on August 25, 2008, during the 2008 [[Democratic National Convention]], urging that [[health care reform]] be made a top priority. The ad aired again during the [[Republican National Convention]]. The 2008 ad was sponsored by several organizations that have, in the past, advocated diverse views on health care, including The [[American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network]], the [[American Hospital Association]], the [[Catholic Health Association of the United States|Catholic Health Association]], [[Families USA]], and the [[National Federation of Independent Business]].<ref>{{cite news 
  | last = American Hospital Association 
  | author-link = American Hospital Association 
  | first = 
  | title = 'Harry and Louise' icons return to promote health care reform in new ad
  | work = 
  | pages = 
  | language = 
  | publisher = [[Thomson Reuters|Reuters Money]]
  | date = August 15, 2008
  | url = https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS191533+15-Aug-2008+PRN20080815
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090515103308/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS191533+15-Aug-2008+PRN20080815
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = May 15, 2009
  | accessdate = 2008-08-18 }}</ref>

In July 2009, the couple appeared in a new television advertisement in support of the health-care plan promoted by President [[Barack Obama]]. The ad was sponsored by a pharmaceutical industry trade group and Families USA.<ref>{{cite news |author=Singer, Natasha |date=July 17, 2009 |title=Harry and Louise return, with a new message |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=B3 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/media/17adco.html}}</ref>