Matt Gunterman November 14th, 2007

ThinkProgress highlights this ad campaign from the Center for American Progress. The goal with these ads is just as much to inform and remind Americans of the pitiful record and history of the conservative movement as it is to promote a new progressive vision for the nation. It’s to make Americans recall the sad twentieth-century conservative legacy of discrimination, bigotry, racism, bungled diplomacy, and environmental and fiscal irresponsibility, and to ensure that Americans make the connection between the sorry state of our nation today and the cultural dominance of conservatives.

New Ad Campaign: “Progressive. And proud of it.”

[Our guest blogger is John Halpin, a Senior Fellow and Executive Speechwriter at the Center for American Progress focusing on the foundations of progressive thought, communications, and public opinion analysis.]

The Center for American Progress, in conjunction with the Glaser Progress Foundation, recently launched a multi-year effort to increase public understanding of what it means to be a progressive given our nation’s history and the challenges we face today.

The first part of the campaign involves a pilot experiment to begin defining progressivism in the public’s mind through a series of distinct advertisements that explain the progressive movement’s core values and policy ideas, its historical accomplishments, and its philosophical differences with conservatives.

Progressive reformers in the 20th century paved the way for a more humane society that ensured decent working conditions; fought corporate abuse and corruption; provided support for the elderly and unemployed; protected our natural resources; and expanded democratic opportunities for all citizens. Our ad campaign is a first attempt at bringing these progressive values and accomplishments to light for modern audiences.

We are just completing a three-week run of four ads in the Columbus, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis media markets. We look forward to hearing ideas from readers of Think Progress and other progressive blogs — let us know what you think:

• Progressive Movement , Republican Party Decline
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