Revisiting a jarring television commercial from the Cold War era, a grass-roots anti-war group has remade the 1964 “Daisy” ad, warning that a war against Iraq could spark nuclear Armageddon.
Like the original, the 30-second ad by the Internet-based group MoveOn.org depicts a girl plucking petals from a daisy–along with a missile launch countdown and a nuclear mushroom cloud.
The original ad was produced by President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign to paint his Republican rival, Barry Goldwater, as an extremist who might lead the United States to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The ad created such negative reaction that it was pulled after only one showing, but Johnson went on to a landslide victory.
MoveOn.org released its version to the media Wednesday and was to air the ad Thursday in 13 major U.S. cities at a cost of $400,000.
Its ad includes scenes of military escalation before the mushroom cloud appears. Then the screen goes black, with a warning that a war might end quickly–or it might spread to other countries and end with “the unthinkable.”
The ad ends with the message: “Maybe that’s why the overwhelming majority of Americans say to President Bush: Let the inspections work.”
