Harry and Louise: Difference between revisions
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Threatened with a measure that would severely impact their industry, the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) hired public affairs consultants, Ben Goddard and Rick Claussen of Goddard Claussen, to do something notoriously difficult: get the attention of elected officials when there was no election in sight. Positioning “Harry and Louise,” an average American couple, to speak “for” not “to” the American people, we created a campaign that highlighted the public’s concerns about the Clinton plan. The unique campaign caught the attention of the media, the White House and the American people. |
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'''"Harry and Louise"''' was the name of a [[television commercial]] funded by the [[Health Insurance Association of America]] (HIAA), a [[health insurance]] industry lobbying group, in opposition to President [[Bill Clinton]]'s [[Clinton health care plan|proposed health care plan]] in [[1993]]. The ad depicted a white [[middle class|middle-class]] couple, portrayed by [[actor]]s Harry Johnson and [[Louise Caire Clark]], despairing over the allegedly [[bureaucrat]]ic nature of the plan and urged viewers to contact their representatives in [[United States Congress|Congress]]. It was widely credited as being a major factor in the plan's ultimate defeat, and is often cited as a landmark moment in the use of [[public relations]] techniques for [[lobbying]]. Studies by [[Kathleen Hall Jamieson]] and others have shown, however, that the ads actually did little to alter public opinion about healthcare reform, but that they generated enough free publicity to alter the perception of opinion makers.<ref>{{cite news |
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| last = Elster |
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| first = Jon |
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| coauthors = |
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| title = Deliberative Democracy |
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| work = |
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| publisher = Cambridge University Press |
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| date = 1998 |
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| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=DPMo0eZ-EcIC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=%22harry+and+louise%22+%22kathleen+jamieson%22&source=web&ots=FRfNWbF_t4&sig=ZZ8C56rKlDxNnOpJgfFhR9aC-RU#PPA131,M1 |
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| accessdate = 2006-07-26 }}</ref> |
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<ref>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/940801/archive_013223.htm</ref> The commercial was created by public relations consultants Ben Goddard and Rick Claussen of Goddard Claussen.<ref>{{cite news |
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| last = Birnbaum |
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| first = Jeffrey H. |
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| coauthors = |
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| title = Returning to the Genre He Started |
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| work = K Street Confidential (column) |
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| publisher = [[The Washington Post]] |
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| date = November 29, 2004 |
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| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18417-2004Nov28.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-07-26 }}</ref> |
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“Harry and Louise” depicted a couple, portrayed by actors Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark, despairing over the allegedly bureaucratic nature of the plan and urged viewers to contact their representatives in Congress. It was widely credited as being a major factor in the plan's ultimate defeat, and is often cited as a landmark moment in the use of public relations techniques for lobbying. The Annenberg School of Communications audit of news coverage reported that the mythical characters garnered more press coverage than Vice President Al Gore and Majority Richard Gephardt combined. |
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The couple made a brief return in an unrelated [[2002]] ad, produced by Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli (Goddard Claussen was purchased by Porter Novelli in 1999), advocating [[human cloning]] for therapeutic purposes on behalf of [[CuresNow]]. The second ad was the subject of a lawsuit by the HIAA who claimed that they owned the characters; however, a court ruled that the characters were owned by Goddard Claussen, and it aired during a showing of ''[[The West Wing (TV series)|The West Wing]]'' on [[NBC]].<ref> {{cite news |
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| last = Larson |
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| first = Mark |
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| title = Revived 'Harry and Louise' ads spark a lawsuit |
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| publisher = Sacramento Business Journal |
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| date = May 10, 2002 |
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| url = http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2002/05/13/newscolumn1.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-07-26 }}</ref> |
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The media continues to write about “Harry & Louise” in the context of health care policy debates and, most recently, the Clinton campaign accused the Obama campaign of copying the couple in a campaign mailing. |
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== References == |
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<references/> |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt31nhleeCg Video of the Harry and Louise ads on YouTube] |
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*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Coalition_for_Health_Insurance_Choices Source Watch coverage of the campaign] |
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*[http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Harry_and_Louise:_An_Example_of_Modern_Propaganda A related Harry and Louise article on Wikinfo] |
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[[Category:Public relations]] |
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Revision as of 16:17, 3 March 2008
Threatened with a measure that would severely impact their industry, the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) hired public affairs consultants, Ben Goddard and Rick Claussen of Goddard Claussen, to do something notoriously difficult: get the attention of elected officials when there was no election in sight. Positioning “Harry and Louise,” an average American couple, to speak “for” not “to” the American people, we created a campaign that highlighted the public’s concerns about the Clinton plan. The unique campaign caught the attention of the media, the White House and the American people.
“Harry and Louise” depicted a couple, portrayed by actors Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark, despairing over the allegedly bureaucratic nature of the plan and urged viewers to contact their representatives in Congress. It was widely credited as being a major factor in the plan's ultimate defeat, and is often cited as a landmark moment in the use of public relations techniques for lobbying. The Annenberg School of Communications audit of news coverage reported that the mythical characters garnered more press coverage than Vice President Al Gore and Majority Richard Gephardt combined.
The media continues to write about “Harry & Louise” in the context of health care policy debates and, most recently, the Clinton campaign accused the Obama campaign of copying the couple in a campaign mailing.
The ad was also one of several prominent ads parodied in the 78th Academy Awards (March 2006). An older couple sitting at the kitchen table bemoans the "foreign-sounding names" of the best actress nominees, then praises Reese Witherspoon for having an all-American name.