History Main / AttackOfThePoliticalAd

* Parodied in ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid''. When Greg runs for treasurer, he uses posters with fabricated stories to smear his opponent. This gets him kicked out of the election.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', in the final episode of the arc featuring Phil running for judge, his competitor Robinson launches a smear campaign against him, claiming he intends to empty the prisons and do nothing to stop crime. Despite the others' prodding, [[HonorBeforeReason Phil refused to sink to Robinson's level]], intending to run a clean campaign and having faith that Los Angeles voters won't swallow the propaganda. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He ends up losing to Robinson]] in a LandslideElection.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Futurama}}:'' During the "Time-Bender Trilogy", Leela winds up in Ancient Greece, where she's told that early attempts at democracy failed due to partisan politics, shown with massive carved billboards saying "A Vote For Flavius Is A Vote To Be Murdered In Your Sleep!" So the people of Greece built robot gods to tell them what to do instead. Which worked... [[JerkassGods for five minutes.]]
[[/folder]]

-->'''Announcer''': ''[sinister music]'' Democratic Candidate Michael Rebbins recently sued Senator Robert Thorne for accusing Rebbins of being a murderous child pornographer. But Rebbins had previously said he was against clogging up courts with {{frivolous lawsuit}}s. Wouldn't this make him a hypocrite? Would you want a hypocrite as your next Congressman? Would you want your children to become hypocrites? ''[upbeat music]'' Vote for Republican Senator Robert Thorne! A candidate ''not'' accused of being a murderous child pornographer!

* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', it's mentioned that Zaphod Beeblebrox became president only after surviving his opponent Humma Kavula's vicious "Don't Vote for Stupid" campaign. Kavula would later claim Beeblebrox only won because people thought they were voting for the "Universe's Worst-Dressed Sentient Being."

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "A Political Campaign and a Candy Land Cheater", Nell Cavanaugh does this against Sheldon using his "I love homework" statement to her.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': In season 2, Daniel [=LaRusso=] puts out an advertisement for Miyagi-Do that is clearly meant to diss on Cobra Kai, saying "Don't be a snake in the grass. Be a champion." Johnny Lawrence retaliates with an ad implying that Daniel's dojo is inferior because his lessons are free unlike Cobra Kai's (which you pay for).
** In season 1, Daniel's business rival in the car dealership world, Tom Cole, puts out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNDJ6VSsleo&ab_channel=CobraKaiScenes an attack ad]] where he implies that Daniel is an unpatriotic water waster.
-->'''Tom Cole:''' Patriot Tom Cole here! When I'm not busy fighting the hated British for your freedom, I'm fighting to bring you great deals, great ''[[{{Eagleland}} American]]'' deals! And because I love this land we call home, I'm giving every new customer their very own [[TakeThat drought-resistant cactus!]][[note]]Daniel offers his customers a free Bonsai tree with each sale[[/note]] In these dry times, it really is the only responsible plant to own, a '''STRONG AMERICAN''' plant. From the Strong American himself, ''me'', Tom Cole! Cole's on Van Nuys! You...'' musket'' down here.

* In ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'', after criticizing the attack ads in the 2014 Senate race in Kentucky between Mitch [=McConnell=] and Allison Lundergan Grimes, John declares that "there is no way things are going to better until we collectively hit rock bottom" - so [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAa4lWQn8M he decides to make the worst attack ads imaginable]], using the full creative license that a premium cable network like Creator/{{HBO}} provides him. In the ad for [=McConnell=], Grimes is shown [[ChainsawGood slaughtering coal miners with a chainsaw]]. In the ad for Grimes, [=McConnell=] is represented by [[FanDisservice an old, white, wrinkled penis]].

* ''Series/TheWestWing'', being a GovernmentProcedural, deals with this during Barlet's re-election and the campaign for his successor. The more idealistic characters are highly reluctant to go negative. Sam gets snookered into giving an anti-Bartlet spot free airtime on all the news networks. Early in the 2006[[note]]the presidential elections are two years off in the show's universe[[/note]] primaries, Democratic candidate Santos rejects a last-ditch effort to make a splash by calling his opponents "chicken" and does an improvised live ad himself. Later, he and Republican Vinick resist their respective advisers' urges to go negative for as long as they can for both pragmatic and personal reasons.

Subtrope of PropagandaPiece. {{Demonization}} is a more general case, less restrained by the necessity to keep at least formal decency. Compare ScareCampaign.

** ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV V]]'' continues this tradition with Jock Cranley and Sue Murry, gubernatorial candidates for San Andreas and extreme stereotypes of the right and left wing, respectively. Cranley's ad calls Murry a shrew (and giving her [[{{Demonization}} demon horns]] and GlowingEyesOfDoom), while Murry's ad in turn calls Cranley a drug-addled, apparently brain-damaged dunce. Strangely, this is a case where both sides' mud-slinging is actually ''completely true'', as evidenced on their appearances on [[Radio/GTARadio the in-game radio]]. Cranley's appearance on BCTR paints him as a total dumbass whose campaign is composed entirely of [[TestosteronePoisoning testosterone-addled posturing]] focusing on his past as a HollywoodActionHero and stuntman, with him openly insulting just about everybody (with shades of Mitt Romney's "47%" remarks) and showing no understanding of the issues. Murry is no better, as her WCTR guesting reveals her to be a [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad hyper-PC]], big-government, nanny-state elitist who "knows what's best" for everyone (being a former schoolteacher and all).

* ''Running For Governor'' by Creator/MarkTwain is all about this.
* ''The Appeal'' by Creator/JohnGrisham has this happen to the Supreme Court Justice with the highest likelihood of upholding the verdict in question.

-->'''Tom Cole:''' Patriot Tom Cole here! When I'm not busy fighting the hated British for your freedom, I'm fighting to bring you great deals, great ''[[{{Eagleland}} American]]'' deals! And because I love this land we call home, I'm giving every new customer their very own [[TakeThat drought-resistant cactus!]][[note]]Daniel offers his customers a free Bonsai tree with each sale[[/note]] In these dry times, it really is the only responsible plant to own, a '''STRONG AMERICAN''' plant. From the Strong American himself, ''me'', Tom Cole! Cole's on Van Nuys! You...''[[IncrediblyLamePun musket]]'' down here.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Series/{{Glee}}''. An unnamed political opponent of Sue Sylvester decides to make an ad campaign declaring that Sue is a lesbian. Then he uses the fact that her cheerleader [[SchoolgirlLesbians Santana Lopez]] is a lesbian as "proof"... and just outed Santana to everyone who watched the ads.

Very much a fact of life in any democratic process. Since the advent of television, political campaigns have taken to the airwaves every election cycle just to point out the flaws and negative characteristics of their opponents in the most unsavory ways. They contrast [[EvilMakesYouUgly the most unattractive pictures they can find of their opponent]] with [[BeautyEqualsGoodness the most appealing photos of their own candidate]], they QuoteMine, they [[AppealToFear scare you]] into thinking that if their opponent is elected [[SlipperySlopeFallacy they'll, literally, send your world straight to Hell and personally hand it over to Satan himself]].

-->Please continue to vote against your interests. Thank you.
* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' shows why you should [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2004-07-03 vote Slick]]- his opponents are represented as [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Nazgul]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Sideshow Bob ran for Springfield Mayor, his campaign took out an ad against Mayor Quimby parodying George H.W. Bush's "Revolving Door Prison" attack ad from the 1988 election. In the ad, prisoners are seen leaving the Springfield State Prison through a revolving door and over the walls on escalators and ski lifts while a narrator lets us know,

[[caption-width-right:310:[-Those attack ads get nastier every year-].]]

** A third featured Rowan Atkinson reading a fairy tale from a book, explaining that once "[[MargaretThatcher the wicked witch]]" died, all the land was happy, and when he closes the book the voiceover announces, "''This has been a party political broadcast on behalf of the Social Democratic Party.''"

** In ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]'', John Hunter (Democratic) and Michael Graves (Republican), candidates for governor of the state surrounding Liberty City, take out surreal attack ads accusing each other of some of the most bizarre things imaginable, from the plausible (Hunter opposed private ordnance, while Graves opposed moves to repeal amendments preventing full-scale espionage on suspected terrorists) to the outlandish (Hunter wanted [=CCTVs=] installed in bedrooms to fine masturbators, as well as transfer funds from schools to drug addicts, while Graves wanted to raise taxes for free condoms in schools) and even the outright AdHominem (Hunter is a bald man with erectile dysfunction, while Graves [[DraftDodging shirked]] from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is a [[PedoHunt pedophile]] with a morally reprehensible wife). Both also end up becoming NotSoDifferent from each other by accusations of advocating underage sex, supporting a retreat from UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, and fiscal conservatism.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', in the final episode of the arc featuring Phil running for judge, his competitor Robinson launches a smear campaign against him, claiming he intends to empty the prisons and do nothing to stop crime. Despite the others' prodding, [[HonorBeforeReason Phil refused to sink to Robinson's level]], intending to run a clean campaign and having faith that Los Angeles voters won't swallow the propaganda. [[RealityEnsues He ends up losing to Robinson]] in a LandslideElection.

* Late in the Senate campaign that forms the plot of ''Film/TheCandidate'', a clearly panicking incumbent Crocker Jarmon relases a negative ad lampooning Bill's inexperience, portraying him as a schoolboy standing on a literal soapbox.

** Parodied with a political ad sketch attributed to the Conservative Party. It 'proves' extravagant spending by the Labor Party through an interactive narrator who instructs a man to do silly things in his bathtub in a particularly convoluted analogy for the economy. It ends with the man having his arms cut off to "cut down on spending".