With the election season in full swing, it’s hard to avoid seeing TV ads for political candidates running in the primary or November election.
Now, there is a new educational tool out there that allows students and teachers to access footage of more than 50 years of presidential campaign commercials.
Sixteen New York City teachers recently had that opportunity to learn about this program, when they participated in a hands-on workshop about AdMaker, the powerful new interactive editing tool that the Museum of the Moving Image is making freely available on The Living Room Candidate (https://livingroomcandidate.org), which has more than 500 commercials from every Presidential campaign from 1952 through 2008.
The workshop – the first public demonstration of AdMaker – was led by the Museum’s Deputy Director for Education Chris Wisniewski and was presented as part of the Taft Institute for Government at Queens College.
“AdMaker leverages young people’s interest in media remixes and mash-ups – an interest many of them already pursue on their own outside the classroom – and puts it in the service of learning about history and civics,” said Wisniewski.. “As they learn how to create an effective campaign ad, they are also building fluency with digital tools and their uses.”
During the workshop, teachers worked in small groups to create their own ads.
“My students would love AdMaker because it’s a fun and creative experience,“ said René Fialkoff, a teacher at I.S. 61 in Corona. “It would enhance the lesson and increase their desire to work with the subject matter since technology is such a part of their lives already.”
Teachers, students, and the public can access AdMaker at https://livingroomcandidate.org, for free and at any time. AdMaker features five activities: Two of them center on commercials from the 1968 Nixon vs. Humphrey election, and two on commercials from the 2008 Obama vs. McCain election. The final activity is open-ended, allowing users to select footage from a variety of campaign ads as well as other history content.
