ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
When Ross Perot visits Blacksburg on Monday, he may want to swing by the Blacksburg New School for a visit. The fourth- and fifth-graders there have something that might boost his popularity.
"He has a lot of ideas to save the Earth," says the recorded voice of Aisha Mitchell.
In less than one minute, the group of eight pitches the underdog's vision for a cleaner environment. The advertisement, filmed with a hand-held video camera, shows the students sitting around a large table in their classroom. As a backdrop, the names Clinton and Dole are printed neatly on the blackboard.
In their small, but authoritative voices, the boys and girls question their teacher:
"But what about Ross Perot?" they ask, in scripted unison.
Virginia Tech political science professor and father, Stephen White spent the past several weeks with the class studying classic examples of how advertising can sway voters. The small private school in Blacksburg requires parental involvement, and White figured this would be an opportune time to educate these future voters on the truths and tricks of politics.
So, he asked the class - which includes his daughter, Lydia - to make their own advertisement for a presidential candidate. Simple enough, except all of these world-wise pupils already had a personal favorite for the presidency.
They chose Perot, Mitchell explained, "because if we did one of Robert Dole, it wouldn't be fair to the ones who liked the president, and if we picked Clinton, then the ones who liked Dole wouldn't like it." The king of catchy phrases, it seemed, didn't garner any support from this bunch so he became their choice.
Why focus on the environment? Respondents of a recent poll - parents and friends of the young pollsters, in other words - listed that issue as one of the most important in the campaign.
So, the team researched Perot's plan for the planet on his World Wide Web page. They wrote a script where they inform their teacher, Kate Morgan, how the Texas multimillionaire would clean up toxic waste, the air and anything else out there that might need fixing.
After viewing the spot, and once the giggling stopped, Alex Lundberg said he didn't buy any of it.
Candidates "usually just say things so they can get elected and then they never do anything."
Phillip Baudoin agreed. He said the advertisements he's seen on television lately "don't mean anything, so I don't pay attention."
So much for the doe-eyed innocence of youth. But if these pupils can critically analyze campaigns and advertisements, said White, they'll be better, more informed voters once it's their turn to pull the lever.
The group also studied other political ads, like the infamous "daisy" commercial shown during the 1964 Lyndon Johnson-Barry Goldwater presidential campaign that played on fears of nuclear war. Big issues, the pupils said, weren't quite as simple as the ads make them seem sometimes.
But back to the important question: What if Perot wanted to use their commercial in these last, heated days? The group agreed they'd let Perot use it, though the savvy, 9-year-old Baudoin had a price.
"I wouldn't sell it to him for anything under $10,000."
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gene Dalton. 1. Philip Baudoin, Alex Lundberg, Willby CNBMathews wait to view their political advertisement for Ross Perot.
Political Science Professor Stephen White worked with the class at
Blacksburg New School to learn how and why ads are made. color. 2.
While being filmed, the class of fourth- and fifth-graders tell
teacher Kate Morgan about the other presidential candidate: Ross
Perot.