TV ad canceled ahead of Iowa caucuses on January 15th
“TV advertising is a waste… “We will provide agile, targeted advertising.”
Trump responds on social media, “Ramaswamy will support me”
Vivek Ramaswamy, the US Republican presidential primary candidate, suddenly stopped running a TV campaign advertisement.
According to NBC News on the 27th (local time), Republican candidate Ramaswami’s camp recently completely stopped spending on TV election advertisements.
As of early this month, the Ramaswami camp had spent more than $200,000 (257.7 million won) on TV advertising. According to Ad Impact, an advertising tracking company, $6,000 (about 7.7 million won) worth of advertising was spent last week alone, all of which was spent on TV advertising.
Ramaswami’s camp announced early last month that it plans to spend more than $10 million (12.885 billion won) on advertising including broadcasting, cable, radio, digital and mail in Iowa and New Hampshire, the early primary regions.
With less than a month left before the Iowa caucuses on the 15th of next month and the New Hampshire primary on the 23rd of next month, there is some analysis that Ramaswami may be resigning mid-term as TV advertisements are completely halted.
Ramaswami’s side explains that it was discontinued due to inefficiency in TV advertising.
“We are focused on turning out the voters we have identified,” Ramaswamy’s press secretary, Trisha McLaughlin, told NBC. “The best ways to reach those voters are through mail, text, live calls and visits.”
He added, “As you know, this is different from most campaigns,” and added, “Ad spending was structured in a way that was agile and targeted accurately.”
Ramaswamy also directly told Politico, “Most people who advertise on TV today are wasting their money,” and “We were one of them, but (TV advertising) is the most expensive (method) that can achieve the least measurable results.” said.
Rival candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, are still spending a lot of money on public broadcast advertising.
According to NBC, last week, former President Trump received $1.1 million (about 1.417 billion won), former Ambassador Haley received $1 million (1.2885 billion won), Governor DeSantis received $270,000 (approximately 348 million won), and former Ambassador Christie received $270,000 (about 348 million won). The governor spent $88,000 (about 114 million won) on TV advertising. This figure includes Super PAC spending for each candidate.
Ramaswami, a former biotechnology entrepreneur, is averaging mid-single-digit approval ratings in Iowa and New Hampshire polls. He is far behind not only former President Trump and former Ambassador Haley, but also Governor DeSantis.
Upon hearing the news of Ramaswami’s TV commercial suspension, former President Trump expressed his admiration through his social media, saying, “Ramaswamy will support me.”
However, Ramaswami dismissed the possibility of resignation, telling POLITICO, “If Trump becomes a presidential candidate, I will give him my full support, but in the opposite case, I expect Trump to do the same.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.