Candidates Target Ads to Fit Region, Demographics

If you were visiting South Carolina from Iowa, and heard or saw a Barack Obama campaign ad, you might think to yourself, "Wait a minute, that's not what I'm hearing back on the farm in Iowa."

That because, as NPR's Martin Kaste explains, the candidates target their ads to fit their audience and region. For instance, that Obama ad in South Carolina, which tells the the Illinois senator's personal story and how, as a young boy, he was raised by a single mother, is aimed at African-Americans. It's been so successful, with its smooth rhythm and blues sound track, other candidates are trying the same approach.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been buying lots of airtime on the Christian rock station in Des Moines. Station manager, Eric Boatright, says while Democratic candidates have inquired about advertising on the station, none of them have aired any commercials. Republicans (except for maybe Rep. Tom Tancredo) and Democrats are running ads on Spanish-language radio stations in the early primary states - although none of the ads touch on the immigration issue.

There is a reason for that. As Martin reports, you can be too specific with your ads, especially with Spanish advertisements. "The days when you could hide your Hispanic political-marketing efforts under a bushel are gone," said Luis Clemens, an editor at the Hispanic political Web site Candidato U.S.A. "Everyone's going to be able to find out about it and translate those ads very quickly."

5:49 PM ET | 12-18-2007 | permalink