Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 22, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The personal is getting political.
One week before Election Day, Democrats are spending big to target swing-state voters in nail salons, lifestyle magazines and shopping malls — all places where they might normally seek to escape the news.
The Democratic National Committee’s seven-figure ad buy aims to reach tens of millions of voters in key demographics with what could be the last get-out-the-vote message they hear before Nov. 5.
The latest “I Will Vote” campaign, launched Tuesday, will feature digital ad placements in over 40 publications, ranging from Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine and Women’s Health, to Serious Eats and the fashion blog Hypebeast.
The final push is focused on voters in the seven key battleground states likely to decide the election between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The tone of the ads will be tailored from market to market to appeal to different audiences.
One of them, featuring a kitten looking out from behind a ballot box, references the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals.
Another evokes the look of a military recruitment poster: “Be a patriot,” it says in all caps. “Stop the fascists.”
The DNC is also buying “takeovers” of the digital homepages of Teen Vogue, Glamour, Vogue and Good Housekeeping, as well as audio ads that will air across Spotify, iHeart Media and Pandora.
Swing-state voters have already been pummeled with political commercials — but nowhere more so than in Pennsylvania, which has seen the most ad spending of the election cycle by far.
That deluge isn’t letting up: As of Friday, advertisers have plunked more than $65 million on future presidential ad reservations in the Keystone State alone, according to AdImpact.
A DNC advertisement.
Source: Good Housekeeping
In hopes of cutting through the noise, the DNC is deploying “tailored advertising that meets Americans where they are,” the group’s acting co-executive director Monica Guardiola said in a statement.
“Now through Election Day, as voters turn to the sources they trust most for news, culture, entertainment, and leisure, they will be met with Democrats’ message of freedom,” she said.
That message will be delivered in some less-traditional places, including nail salons, malls, transit centers and grocery stores.
Most of the ads show Democrats leaning into the issue of reproductive rights, an issue on which the party can both mobilize its base, and potentially win over independent and moderate Republican women.
“Women will decide this election. Your daughters shouldn’t have fewer rights than your mother did,” one ad reads.
Another, featuring bubble-letter font against a pink-and-orange-checkered background, declares, “Your vote matters. Period.”
To ensure the point lands, the ad also depicts a sparkling intrauterine device, or IUD.
A DNC advertisement.
Source: Teen Vogue
The DNC will also place some ads targeting competitive House or Senate races in key areas of Florida, Iowa, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Kansas and Oregon, a spokesperson told CNBC.
Many of the publications included in the ad campaign, such as Allure, Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Women’s Health, have audiences that skew toward women.
That’s a sound turnout strategy in an election where pollsters have been surprised to see a such a deep gender divide among voters. Female voters are breaking strongly for Harris, who would become the first woman U.S. president, over Trump.
Recent research also that shows that White women — a massive voting bloc that favored Trump over his Democratic rival in both 2016 and 2020 — are trending slightly toward Harris as the election nears.
But the DNC is also buying space in publications that cater to Black and Latino audiences, including Ebony, Essence, Complex, MadameNoire, Black Enterprise, HipLatina and Latina Magazine.
Those ad buys come as Harris made overtures to Puerto Ricans on Sunday, pouncing on racist remarks made by Trump rally speaker Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage.”
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump has gained support among Hispanic men, nearly erasing the Democrats’ long-held advantage with the demographic.
The DNC is also reaching out to more male-leaning audiences with ads on Bleacher Report, Men’s Health and Vice.
The DNC’s podcast ads, meanwhile, prioritize economic issues.
“What’s on the ballot this election?” a speaker asks in the 30-second spot. “Affordable housing. Student loan relief. Good-paying jobs. Reproductive freedom. Our future.”