Do you ever get the feeling you could create better political ads than what you're seeing? This course is geared toward students with a background in the creative side of advertising and media, and who want to explore political advertising. Learn about producing ads for candidate elections and for issue advocacy campaigns-and the distinctive problems that set politics apart from other branches of advertising. Topics will include most media: television, radio, direct mail, outdoor, print, collateral and Web ads. Students will work on home assignments in the media of their choice, and produce a set of portfolio pieces. Sessions will include lectures on the key topics of political advertising, viewing and discussion of political ads currently running in Election 2012, and the presentation and critique of students' creative output. Guest lectures from the field will discuss their approaches, as well as topics relevant to the field of political campaigns.