{"id":17846,"date":"2019-09-08T20:20:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T20:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17846"},"modified":"2019-09-09T00:50:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T00:50:00","slug":"youd-be-better-off-lighting-your-money-on-fire-than-giving-it-to-a-politician-to-spend-on-tv-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/youd-be-better-off-lighting-your-money-on-fire-than-giving-it-to-a-politician-to-spend-on-tv-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019d be better off lighting your money on fire than giving it to a politician to spend on TV ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberty Vittert<\/a>, Washington University in St Louis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Alright, you want to make this country a better place for yourself, your children and the many generations to come. So you make a donation to a political candidate you believe will fight for a better country.<\/p>\n

But, in reality, you are wasting your money. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Television has long been the golden goose of political advertising. The conventional wisdom is that the candidate who can spend the most on it will most likely win.<\/p>\n

With the exception of Donald Trump, almost every person elected president since 1960 has raised and spent more money<\/a> than their opponent. That includes Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama \u2013 with a significant amount of that money being used to buy expensive television advertisements.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Hillary Clinton raised over US$1.1 billion, as opposed to Trump\u2019s grand total of less than $650 million<\/a>. She outspent Trump almost three times over<\/a> on television advertising.<\/p>\n

So how is it that a presidential candidate won with less money raised and spent?<\/p>\n

Spending where it counts<\/h2>\n

Some<\/a> have attributed this to free media Trump received from television networks hungry for ratings. But, in many ways, that argument doesn\u2019t hold water, so consider a different answer: digital advertising.<\/p>\n

While he was outspent on TV, Trump spent four times<\/a> the amount Hillary Clinton did on digital ads, which are any ad on a computer rather than the typical campaign ads on TV, mail or billboards.<\/p>\n

Why would this be the answer?<\/p>\n

As of 2016, a new era of politics has been established (arguably initiated by Obama in 2008), dominated by digital advertising. And no one has done it better than Donald Trump.<\/p>\n