DES MOINES — Two billionaires will pitch their presidential candidacies amid the beer and car commercials during the Super Bowl on Sunday, with Michael R. Bloomberg spending a full minute addressing gun violence and President Trump using 30 seconds to highlight his first years in office. The Bloomberg ad, which his campaign says it hopes will “stop people in their tracks,” features an emotional story told by a mother still grieving the loss of her son, shown onscreen in youth football gear, who was killed by gunfire at the age of 20. She points to Mr. Bloomberg’s record on seeking tougher gun laws as the reason she now has “a dog in the fight” for the presidency. By contrast, Mr. Trump’s ad features relatively general themes and imagery of the president’s rallies, with a narrator boasting about low unemployment and the military. The ad could be mistaken as a generic Trump campaign ad; it is not particularly yoked to the football game, nor does it contain the sort of creative or conceptual touches that distinguish expensive Super Bowl ads.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 11:52 UTC