Abstract

Blood on the campaign trail

In the spring of 1995, the American Red Cross launched a new advertising campaign for its national blood drive. The campaign included at its center a television public service announcement that depicted an American flag billowing in the wind. After thousands of dollars had been spent, the advertising campaign was quietly discontinued because the president of the American Red Cross, Elizabeth Dole, ruled that it was too controversial. Several weeks after the aborted campaign, her husband, Bob Dole, then the front-runner for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, announced his support of a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag. Alone, yanking the flag advertisement might be viewed as a minor case of Bob Dole's presidential politics influencing a small decision at Dole's Red Cross.