TV Adwatch: Ron DeSantis

Today in “I watch Political ads so you don’t have to”, I’m covering Ron DeSantis.

I heard the buzz about DeSantis and I seriously thought the nomination was his. To be fair, some times timing is everyone and in the case of Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and so many others, it just doesn’t work out. 

DeSantis’s first ads displayed him as the Warrior against the Woke. While I think that a certain part of the crowd appreciated it, I found it weird DeSantis (or at least his supportive PAC) was focusing on his fights against Disney, Target and Bud Light. 

It just seemed so odd against the backdrop of say, Doug Burgum, you know, actually accomplishing something. 

Did it move the needle? “Florida is where Woke goes to Die”. 

Trump made fun of it, while the rest of us yawned.

While that ad felt definitely had a sense of modern day division politics, the next ad I saw felt like a throwback. 

DeSantis -being an electrician apprentice, serving in the Navy, and playing baseball at Yale. 

Wait, what was that last one? In an environment where everyone is wanting to be the most exciting outsider, the ad really felt like the old politics of wealth and power. 

If DeSantis was trying to differentiate himself from Trump, he did it by looking like a Bush. 

Not the strategy I would pick. 

Now, everyone has done a spot about how they’re going to build the wall. Tim Scott has a pretty memorable one. Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and others have made it a major part of their campaign. 

But DeSantis has used the boldest words, bringing to mind those old Black Flag ads- he is going to make these drug traffickers “Stone Cold Dead”. 

There are other DeSantis PAC commercials to pick from, but know that not all of them are death and destruction or Ivy League education. 

For example, a recent commercial pulled the Presidential trope of “I may not be so great but my wife will make a great First Lady” as images of Casey DeSantis’s social media dominate the ad. 

So there’s that.