WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.100 Welcome to the deep dive. I'm so glad you're 00:00:02.100 --> 00:00:04.379 here with us today because we are looking at 00:00:04.379 --> 00:00:07.660 something that proves just how much raw psychological 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.439 power you can pack into 60 seconds of television. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.140 60 seconds is really all it took. Right. We are 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:15.339 unpacking a legendary piece of political media. 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.839 It's a 1984 campaign commercial officially titled 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:22.309 Proud or Stronger. better. But you, along with 00:00:22.309 --> 00:00:24.309 basically the rest of the world, probably know 00:00:24.309 --> 00:00:27.109 it simply as mourning in America. It really stands 00:00:27.109 --> 00:00:31.750 as the undisputed gold standard for a very specific 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.350 kind of political messaging. It does. And our 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.530 source today is a detailed Wikipedia article 00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:38.869 that breaks down the ads creation, the content, 00:00:38.909 --> 00:00:42.009 and its immense cultural resonance. And our mission 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:44.960 today for you listening is to really take this 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:47.719 iconic ad apart, like frame by frame, line by 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.020 line. We want to understand how a single one 00:00:50.020 --> 00:00:52.539 minute commercial managed to define political 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:54.759 optimism for decades. Exactly. We're going to 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.060 examine how it wielded tone as a literal weapon 00:00:57.060 --> 00:01:00.060 and how its echoes are still shaping modern elections 00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:03.280 and even pop culture today. But before we get 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.560 into the mechanics of all this. We need to make 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.019 something explicitly clear to you listening. 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:11.420 Yes, very important. We are dissecting an inherently 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:14.780 political artifact here, one that involves figures 00:01:14.780 --> 00:01:17.359 and groups spanning the entire spectrum. We're 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:19.739 talking Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Donald 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.519 Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and the Lincoln 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.819 Project. So because of that, we are stating our 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:29.560 absolute impartiality upfront. We are not taking 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:32.090 sides here. Not at all. We are not endorsing 00:01:32.090 --> 00:01:34.409 any of the viewpoints, candidates or political 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:36.750 parties we're about to discuss. Right. Our role 00:01:36.750 --> 00:01:39.489 is strictly to report on and analyze the rhetorical 00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:42.370 strategies and historical facts exactly as they 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:44.689 appear in the source text. We are looking at 00:01:44.689 --> 00:01:47.010 the architecture of the message, not voting on 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:48.950 the platform. We're just acting as your guides 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:50.870 through the mechanics of persuasion, looking 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:53.189 at how these political entities constructed their 00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:55.709 arguments. Spot on. So let's just jump right 00:01:55.709 --> 00:01:58.150 into that architecture. Let's do it. If you've 00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:00.549 ever studied advertising or political history, 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.170 or really just absorbed American pop culture, 00:02:03.829 --> 00:02:05.609 you know the opening line of this commercial. 00:02:05.829 --> 00:02:08.250 It's morning again in America. Yeah, that line. 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:11.729 It immediately paints this vivid picture of everyday 00:02:11.729 --> 00:02:14.389 Americans waking up, getting ready, commuting 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:17.550 to work. It does. And the dual function of that 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:20.069 single phrase is doing an immense amount of heavy 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:21.949 lifting. Oh, absolutely. On the surface, it's 00:02:21.949 --> 00:02:24.550 just a literal description of the visuals. You 00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:26.969 see these sun -drenched early morning shots playing 00:02:26.969 --> 00:02:29.270 on the screen. But beneath that, it operates 00:02:29.270 --> 00:02:31.909 as this remarkably potent metaphor for national 00:02:31.909 --> 00:02:35.210 renewal. Right. Morning implies that a dark night 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:38.300 is finally over. The sun is coming up, the slate 00:02:38.300 --> 00:02:41.259 is wiped clean, a fresh start is here. And to 00:02:41.259 --> 00:02:43.460 really grasp the weight of that metaphor, you 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:45.520 have to look at the baseline it was reacting 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:48.599 to. Yeah, the historical context. Exactly. The 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:51.259 ad wasn't just selling a generic sunny day. It 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:54.379 was selling an exit strategy from the late 1970s 00:02:54.379 --> 00:02:57.039 and early 1980s. Which was an era defined by 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.280 severe economic malaise, the energy crisis, and 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:02.360 just a general sense of national exhaustion. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.120 That context is everything. The genius of prouder, 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:08.479 stronger, better is that it doesn't just rely 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.250 on warm, fuzzy feelings. to contrast with that 00:03:11.250 --> 00:03:14.370 previous darkness. It actually grounds its emotional 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:17.870 metaphor in highly specific, tangible data. Right. 00:03:18.069 --> 00:03:21.590 The script explicitly tells the viewer that interest 00:03:21.590 --> 00:03:24.169 rates are at about half of their 1980 record 00:03:24.169 --> 00:03:26.710 highs. And it mentions inflation is at less than 00:03:26.710 --> 00:03:29.300 half of what it was four years prior. And they 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:32.460 pair those macroeconomic stats with hyper -specific 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:35.860 microeconomic visuals. The voiceover states that 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:39.500 exactly that day, nearly 2 ,000 families will 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.020 buy new homes. Which was more than at any time 00:03:42.020 --> 00:03:44.060 in the past four years. Yeah. And then it adds 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:47.919 that very afternoon, 6 ,500 young men and women 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.680 will get married. I mean, think about the psychological 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.560 weight of those two specific metrics. Yeah. Buying 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:56.319 a home. and getting married. Huge life events. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.280 Right. In a period of high inflation and economic 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:00.979 instability, people feel entirely out of control 00:04:00.979 --> 00:04:02.719 of their financial destinies. They put their 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:04.919 lives on hold. They don't buy houses. They wait 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.599 to get married. Exactly. So by focusing on mortgages 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:09.879 and weddings, which are the ultimate acts of 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.539 long -term planning and optimism, the ad isn't 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:14.919 just selling an economic recovery under Ronald 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:17.389 Reagan. It's selling the return of predictability 00:04:17.389 --> 00:04:20.069 to American life. Right. It's telling the voter 00:04:20.069 --> 00:04:22.449 that it is safe to plan for the future again. 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:25.009 It builds up all this incredible momentum. You 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.170 have the lowering inflation, the weddings, the 00:04:27.170 --> 00:04:30.089 new homes, the sun literally rising. And then 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:33.050 at the very peak of that optimism, the script 00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:37.009 executes this brilliantly sharp pivot. Yes, the 00:04:37.009 --> 00:04:40.430 pivot is so good. It asked voters directly why 00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:42.029 they would ever want to return to where they 00:04:42.029 --> 00:04:45.110 were less than four short years ago. It's a textbook 00:04:45.110 --> 00:04:47.750 rhetorical trap. It completely is. It takes the 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:49.889 positive feelings generated by the word mourning 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:53.350 and essentially positions the pre -Reagan policies 00:04:53.350 --> 00:04:56.250 of the Democrats, not just as a competing political 00:04:56.250 --> 00:04:59.110 philosophy, but as a literal step backward into 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:01.810 the dark. The framing is just masterful. The 00:05:01.810 --> 00:05:04.529 choice isn't presented as Reagan versus his Democratic 00:05:04.529 --> 00:05:06.589 opponent. Right. Walter Mondale isn't even the 00:05:06.589 --> 00:05:09.209 point. The choice is framed as moving forward 00:05:09.209 --> 00:05:11.379 into the morning. versus retreating into the 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:13.560 night. And the visual language carrying that 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:15.720 message is just as deliberate. You watch this 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:17.899 ad and it feels like a sweeping cross -country 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:20.519 documentary of the American dream. You see ticket 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:23.379 fences, bustling main streets, people loading 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:25.839 up trucks, folks heading to the factory. You 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.620 would completely assume it took a massive multi 00:05:28.620 --> 00:05:31.079 -state production to capture that everywhere 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:34.740 USA feeling. But here is the crazy behind the 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:37.680 scenes trivia from the source. They didn't even 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.980 leave California. I love this detail. Yeah, the 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:43.860 director, John Pitca, and the art director, Bernie 00:05:43.860 --> 00:05:46.720 Vangren, shot the entire supposedly national 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.920 montage in one single town, Petaluma, California. 00:05:51.259 --> 00:05:54.040 They managed to distill the entire visual identity 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:56.279 of the American working class into a few blocks 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:58.379 of Sonoma County. It proves you don't need a 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:00.779 50 -state shoot if your visual shorthand is strong 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:03.389 enough. But visual shorthand only gets you halfway 00:06:03.389 --> 00:06:06.029 there. You can have the perfect script, the perfect 00:06:06.029 --> 00:06:08.370 economic stats, and the perfect sun -drenched 00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:11.250 Paluma visuals. But if the delivery feels like 00:06:11.250 --> 00:06:14.149 a politician lecturing you, the illusion shatters. 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:16.910 Exactly. The true alchemy of this ad comes from 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:19.810 the messenger, Hal Rainey. Hal Rainey was an 00:06:19.810 --> 00:06:22.069 advertising executive who not only wrote the 00:06:22.069 --> 00:06:25.319 ad, but narrated it himself. And he was clearly 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:27.740 tapping into something resonant because he was 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:30.259 also the creative mind and voice behind other 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:33.360 massive Reagan ads from that era, like America's 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:35.399 Back and the famous Bear in the Woods commercial. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.639 Reini possessed this incredibly rich, avuncular 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:40.620 delivery. When you listen to the audio, it doesn't 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:42.720 sound like a broadcaster or a political operative. 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:44.959 No, not at all. It sounds like your favorite 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.459 uncle sitting across the kitchen table, holding 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:50.060 a cup of coffee, calmly giving you some good 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:52.839 news about the neighborhood. That tone was a 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:55.660 radical departure from the norm. Think about 00:06:55.660 --> 00:06:57.980 what the Republican political strategist Dan 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:00.779 Schnurr pointed out regarding Rainey's technique. 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:03.420 Yeah, Schnurr noted that the vast majority of 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:05.879 political advertising historically hits viewers 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:08.420 over the head. It's loud, it's aggressive, and 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:11.240 it's confrontational by design. But Rainey figured 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:13.800 out how to make an equally devastating political 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.199 point, but in a less confrontational and a more 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.199 soothing manner. It's a master class. and lowering 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:22.579 the listener's defenses. When someone is shouting 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.199 at you through a television screen, your psychological 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.699 guard immediately goes up. You brace for the 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:30.360 spin. But when someone speaks to you in a calm, 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.060 optimistic whisper, telling you that things are 00:07:33.060 --> 00:07:35.879 getting better and the night is over, you naturally 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:39.259 lean in. You want to believe the voice, the soothing 00:07:39.259 --> 00:07:42.639 tone itself. becomes the primary engine of persuasion. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:44.759 And you know, there is a profound lesson in that 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:46.860 for you listening right now, regardless of your 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.259 field. Absolutely. Whether you are pitching a 00:07:49.259 --> 00:07:52.279 client in a boardroom, navigating a tense negotiation, 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.279 or just trying to persuade a partner at home. 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:57.680 Our default assumption is often that we need 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.199 to project more volume to project more authority. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.639 But Reini proved that sometimes a calm, optimistic 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:07.459 whisper completely disarms the room. In a way, 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.399 an aggressive shout never could. That specific 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.240 alchemy of Rainey's voice, the pinpoint statistics, 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.319 and the Petaluma visuals created a cultural template. 00:08:16.779 --> 00:08:18.699 And it is a template that politicians across 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:21.480 the spectrum have been desperately trying to 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:24.079 reverse engineer ever since 1984. So let's look 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.399 at how that played out in the 2016 presidential 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.399 election because it felt like half the field 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.079 was trying to bottle that specific magic. Yeah, 00:08:31.259 --> 00:08:33.799 they were chasing the magic hard. You had Republican 00:08:33.799 --> 00:08:37.320 candidate Marco Rubio explicitly invoking the 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:40.399 legacy by releasing a campaign ad literally titled, 00:08:40.659 --> 00:08:43.899 Morning Again in America. Rubio's campaign attempted 00:08:43.899 --> 00:08:46.990 to recreate the exact visual playbook. They assembled 00:08:46.990 --> 00:08:49.529 a montage of everyday American life in cities 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:52.529 and suburbs. Clearly aiming for that same everywhere 00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:55.730 USA emotional resonance that Pitca captured in 00:08:55.730 --> 00:08:58.190 Petaluma. Except they had a rather catastrophic 00:08:58.190 --> 00:09:00.690 lapse in quality control. Oh man, the gaffe. 00:09:00.929 --> 00:09:03.629 The Rubio campaign drew immense criticism because 00:09:03.629 --> 00:09:06.190 the very opening, establishing shot of their 00:09:06.190 --> 00:09:09.110 great American montage wasn't filmed in America 00:09:09.110 --> 00:09:11.730 at all. It was stock footage of the Vancouver, 00:09:12.029 --> 00:09:15.000 British Columbia skyline. Canada. It's a brutal 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.320 unforced error when your entire rhetorical premise 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:19.960 hinges on evoking domestic national pride. But 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:22.120 Rubio was hardly alone in trying to harness the 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.799 phrase in 2016. Ted Cruz wove the concept into 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.559 the very fabric of his stump speeches. He practically 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.120 treated the concept of mourning in America as 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.639 an inevitable event that he was personally ushering 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.220 in. He was like a hype man for the sunrise. Right. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:39.820 At the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference, 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:42.379 he told the crowd, we can bring back mourning 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.799 in America. And he hammered it again during a 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.899 South Carolina primary speech. He even used it 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:51.399 as his definitive victory cry. After winning 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:54.179 the Republican caucus in Iowa, Cruz stood on 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:57.409 stage and declared. Morning is coming. He was 00:09:57.409 --> 00:09:59.370 actively trying to cast himself as the rising 00:09:59.370 --> 00:10:03.029 sun, using the 1984 ad as a shorthand to signal 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:06.090 a return to Reagan -era conservative principles. 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:08.529 But then you see the exact same 1984 imagery 00:10:08.529 --> 00:10:11.730 get completely inverted by the opposition. Yes, 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:15.009 the flip. During the 2016 Democratic National 00:10:15.009 --> 00:10:17.830 Convention, Hillary Clinton weaponized the concept 00:10:17.830 --> 00:10:20.549 against Donald Trump during her nomination acceptance 00:10:20.549 --> 00:10:22.850 speech. This is a brilliant piece of rhetorical 00:10:22.850 --> 00:10:25.600 judo. Clinton told the convention crowd that 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:27.700 Trump had taken the Republican Party a long way 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:30.659 from morning in America to what she termed midnight 00:10:30.659 --> 00:10:32.860 in America. She argued that his platform was 00:10:32.860 --> 00:10:35.159 fundamentally built on making people fear the 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.600 future and fear each other. The mechanics of 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.759 that attack are fascinating because she isn't 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.200 just criticizing her opponent's policies. By 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.179 explicitly referencing the ad, she is using the 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:48.440 most sacred, beloved text of the modern Republican 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.759 Party to indict its current nominee. It demonstrates 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.279 that the phrase had entirely transcended its 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:57.120 original context. It was no longer just a campaign 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.659 slogan. It had become the universal American 00:10:59.659 --> 00:11:02.740 shorthand for political optimism. And by establishing 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:05.860 mourning as the ultimate ideal, Clinton successfully 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:08.639 positioned her Midnight in America concept as 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.450 the ultimate political dread. That concept of 00:11:11.450 --> 00:11:14.129 dread takes us directly into the 2020 election 00:11:14.129 --> 00:11:16.830 cycle, where the legacy of the ad took an even 00:11:16.830 --> 00:11:19.850 darker, much more visceral twist. Yeah. The Lincoln 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:22.009 Project released an ad that flipped the entire 00:11:22.009 --> 00:11:24.490 optimistic script by changing a single letter. 00:11:24.649 --> 00:11:28.450 They spelled it M -O -U -R -N -I -N -G in America, 00:11:28.909 --> 00:11:31.549 mourning as in grief and loss. The Lincoln Project 00:11:31.549 --> 00:11:33.649 ad is a surgical deconstruction of the original, 00:11:34.190 --> 00:11:36.509 where the Hal Reiny ad used metrics of weddings 00:11:36.509 --> 00:11:38.350 and homeownership to prove that life was getting 00:11:38.350 --> 00:11:41.740 better. The 2020 ad reversed the polarity. It 00:11:41.740 --> 00:11:43.879 focused heavily on the mounting death toll from 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:47.120 the COVID -19 pandemic. And what the ad framed 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.419 as the debatable inaction of President Donald 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:52.559 Trump's administration. They didn't just drop 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.759 a national broadcast and hope for the best either. 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:58.519 They executed a highly targeted state -by -state 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:01.019 strategy to maximize the damage. They produced 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:03.679 customized versions titled Mourning in Iowa, 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:06.200 Mourning in Florida, Mourning in Pennsylvania, 00:12:06.659 --> 00:12:09.029 and Mourning in Ohio. They even went after the 00:12:09.029 --> 00:12:11.509 ideological core with a version titled mourning 00:12:11.509 --> 00:12:13.970 and Republican Party, which explicitly lamented 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:16.070 the direction of the conservative movement. The 00:12:16.070 --> 00:12:18.970 emotional devastation of that ad campaign relies 00:12:18.970 --> 00:12:22.100 entirely on the viewer's cultural memory. The 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:24.580 parody only lands its punch because the wholesome, 00:12:24.899 --> 00:12:27.340 soothing rhythm of the original is so deeply 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:29.460 ingrained in our collective consciousness. When 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:32.120 you hear that familiar cadence delivers statistics 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:34.740 of death rather than statistics of new homes, 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.580 the cognitive dissonance is incredibly jarring. 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:39.919 And that cognitive dissonance isn't just a political 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.600 weapon either. It turns out to be a master key 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:44.960 for psychological horror in pop culture. Yes, 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:47.289 the entertainment industry. Entertainment executives 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:49.970 understand the hardwired nature of this ad, just 00:12:49.970 --> 00:12:52.669 as well as political strategists do. Which became 00:12:52.669 --> 00:12:55.909 incredibly apparent during Super Bowl 53. The 00:12:55.909 --> 00:12:58.250 Super Bowl is the pinnacle of American advertising 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:00.970 real estate. It's the one moment of the year 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:02.970 where the commercials are scrutinized with the 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:06.250 same intensity as the broadcast itself. And Hulu 00:13:06.250 --> 00:13:09.289 utilized that massive cultural megaphone to debut 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:11.850 a trailer for the third season of their hit series, 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:14.320 The Handmaid's Tale. Anyone familiar with The 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.500 Handmaid's Tale knows it deals with the bleak 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:19.220 totalitarian dread of the Republic of Gilead. 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:22.460 You expect fire, oppression and dystopian terror 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:25.399 right out of the gate. But Hulu pulled off a 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:27.919 spectacular bait and switch. The trailer was 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.139 meticulously engineered to mimic the 1984 Mourning 00:13:31.139 --> 00:13:34.580 in America ad. It utilized an incredibly similar, 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:37.860 soothing voiceover narration. The initial visuals 00:13:37.860 --> 00:13:41.659 were bright. calm and reassuring, focusing specifically 00:13:41.659 --> 00:13:44.100 on women and newborn children. For those first 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:46.580 few seconds, the Super Bowl audience likely assumed 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:48.940 they were watching a genuine, saccharine political 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:52.100 ad or maybe a high -end life insurance commercial. 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:54.539 It lulls you into this false sense of security 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:57.519 using that exact howl -runny rhythm. And then, 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.000 without warning, the soothing narration and the 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.299 sun -drenched visuals are violently interrupted. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:05.759 The screen erupts into scenes of Gilead, fire, 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:08.440 totalitarian brutality, and women forced into 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:12.299 sexual slavery. It is a massive, jarring whiplash. 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:14.440 The trailer then delivers its knockout punch. 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:17.700 It concludes with the lead character, June Osborne, 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.919 staring directly into the camera. And stating 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.779 flatly, wake up America, morning's over. It's 00:14:22.779 --> 00:14:25.480 an incredibly effective piece of marketing. But 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:27.860 when you pull back— and look at the broader implications, 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:30.720 it forces you to ask why the showrunners chose 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.480 this specific 1984 campaign ad to parody. Out 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:36.019 of all the political media produced over the 00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:38.720 last 40 years, why did this one serve as the 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:41.000 vehicle for dystopian horror? Well, the answer 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.139 really synthesizes why this matters to you listening. 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:46.000 Because it proves the sheer unyielding durability 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.850 of the ad's tone. The specific brand of wholesome 00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:51.590 optimism that Hal Reiny and John Pitca manufactured 00:14:51.590 --> 00:14:54.730 is so universally recognizable. It's hardwired 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:57.230 into the American cultural psyche. It can be 00:14:57.230 --> 00:14:59.549 instantly identified by viewers more than three 00:14:59.549 --> 00:15:02.769 decades later. The terror of the Hulu trailer 00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:04.990 doesn't just come from the imagery of Gilead. 00:15:05.389 --> 00:15:08.009 The terror is generated by the violation of that 00:15:08.009 --> 00:15:11.490 safe, soothing, morning in America feeling. By 00:15:11.490 --> 00:15:14.769 corrupting something so inherently trusted, the 00:15:14.769 --> 00:15:17.659 horror hits infinitely harder. It really puts 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:20.320 the life cycle of this single piece of media 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.179 into perspective. We started in a sunny, fictionalized 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:27.539 version of Petaluma, California, with a simple 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:30.200 60 -second commercial trying to convince voters 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:32.200 that interest rates were moving in the right 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.059 direction. And over four decades, it evolved 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:37.639 into the undisputed gold standard for political 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:40.360 messaging. a rhetorical weapon for both the left 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:42.639 and the right to bludgeon each other with. And 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:45.299 finally, a pop culture touchstone capable of 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:47.759 selling dystopian fiction on the biggest advertising 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.840 stage in the world. It demonstrates that when 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.940 a message is delivered with the exact right tone 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:54.779 and perfectly timed to intersect with a nation's 00:15:54.779 --> 00:15:57.960 emotional needs, it ceases to be just an advertisement. 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:00.879 It breaks free of its original context and becomes 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.120 a permanent fixture in the cultural vocabulary. 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:06.639 It absolutely does. But before we wrap up today's 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.879 deep dive, we want to leave you with a final 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.679 thought to mull over on your own. We spent a 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.919 lot of time breaking down how effective this 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.600 unifying image of morning in America was, but 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:18.799 it's crucial to remember the environment it was 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:21.639 deployed in. Hal Reiny created that message in 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:25.090 an era dominated by a monoculture. three major 00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:27.909 TV networks where a massive portion of the country 00:16:27.909 --> 00:16:30.409 sat down and watched the exact same broadcasts 00:16:30.409 --> 00:16:33.529 at the exact same time. They shared a singular 00:16:33.529 --> 00:16:36.429 cultural reality which forces us to look at our 00:16:36.429 --> 00:16:39.210 current reality. We now live in a deeply fragmented 00:16:39.210 --> 00:16:42.110 media landscape driven by highly personalized 00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:45.070 often isolating digital algorithms that feed 00:16:45.070 --> 00:16:48.149 us custom tailored realities. Given that fracture 00:16:48.149 --> 00:16:50.850 is it even mechanic and possible to create a 00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:52.990 universally resonant morning in America message 00:16:52.990 --> 00:16:56.029 today? Or has our algorithmic digital landscape 00:16:56.029 --> 00:16:59.129 made that kind of shared national optimism obsolete? 00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:01.110 Definitely something to consider the next time 00:17:01.110 --> 00:17:03.490 a perfectly polished political ad slides into 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:05.410 your social media feed. Thanks for joining us 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:07.009 for this deep dive. We'll see you next time.