--- title: The Best Presidential Campaign Ads–So Far description: Political advertising is mostly rote and robotic, drawn from a wasteland of tired formulas and boring sound bites. But a few candidates have broken through this cycle with something politicians rarely display: actual creativity. canonical: https://time.com/4217063/the-best-presidential-campaign-ads-so-far/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T11:51:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:59:24.303Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Best Presidential Campaign Ads–So Far og:description: Political advertising is mostly rote and robotic, drawn from a wasteland of tired formulas and boring sound bites. But a few candidates have broken through this cycle with something politicians rarely display: actual creativity. og:url: https://time.com/4217063/the-best-presidential-campaign-ads-so-far/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best Presidential Campaign Ads–So Far twitter:description: Political advertising is mostly rote and robotic, drawn from a wasteland of tired formulas and boring sound bites. But a few candidates have broken through this cycle with something politicians rarely display: actual creativity. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Best Presidential Campaign Ads--So Far  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Feb 11, 2016 11:51 AM UTC  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Feb 11, 2016 11:51 AM UTC ‘THESE HANDS,’ BEN CARSON Carson exploits his most famous traits–skilled hands in the operating room—without dulling their impact. Repeated shots of the hands of Carson supporters working in all sorts of fields bolster Carson’s missionary argument about upward mobility. ‘CRUZ CHRISTMAS CLASSICS,’ TED CRUZ Using family members in campaign ads is nothing new. But Cruz’s controversy-courting staging–a mock book-club reading that targets the IRS and Obama–is delightfully nihilistic rather than sappy. It’s a rare attack ad that, somehow, charms. ‘AMERICA,’ BERNIE SANDERS Sanders is no sentimentalist, so he lets Simon and Garfunkel do the inclusion and uplift for him. Their song “America” plays while he wordlessly summons the revolution. It situates the cerebral socialist in the comforting, recognizable milieu of ’60s nostalgia. ‘CHILDREN,’ HILLARY CLINTON Decades in the spotlight–and countless hairstyles–are transformed from a potential weakness into an asset, using chronological clips cut together to form a single speech about her fight for children. The point is crucial for Clinton: Despite all the political reinventions, she hasn’t lost her core purpose. ’15 QUESTIONS MARCO WON’T BE ASKED AT THE DEBATE,’ MARCO RUBIO As Rubio strolls backstage talking to an unseen interlocutor, we learn the Senator loves HBO’s Ballers and thinks Batman could win against Spider-Man. The facts, though, are less notable than the chilled-out, un-politician-like tone. ‘JEB: FOR ALL YOUR SLEEPING NEEDS,’ DONALD TRUMP This 15-second Instagram video turns a shot of a voter apparently snoozing at a Jeb Bush event into a witty sleeping-aid promo. Aided by Bush’s dull stump speech, Trump’s trademark bullying sense of humor is both vicious and funny. 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