Mr. Napolitan moderated a panel discussion on consumer and political advertising. Ambassador Ney, the chairman of the Advertising Council, opened the discussion by saying that the choice of a president is too influenced by political advertising. He mentioned short campaigns such as are held in England and Canada as a possible solution. Mr. Ailes, who was directing George Bush’s presidential campaign, noted, "one of the traditions of American politics is that candidates have to run a gauntlet, which helps people learn about candidates.

Mr. Sawyer said that political advertising “is playing less of a role than it ever has.” He questioned the degree to which you can manipulate the American public through paid advertising. Mr. Dusenberry, an ad agency executive who developed the “Morning Again in America” television commercials for the 1984 Reagan campaign, argued that political advertising “is more effective than its ever been before because its better than it ever was before.” He pointed to the increasing involvement of product advertisers as the reason. Mr. Sawyer responded that the candidate is the issue and “we don’t care if we win any awards.” He added that slicker advertising is more of an attempt to manipulate the public.