This document looks at advertising and political commercials in radio. When placing an advertisement, in any media in general and radio in particular, one takes into consideration qualitative and quantitative data: how many people are listening, and who they are, and what level of education they have attained. Listeners have extremely well established and hard to break listening habits. Advertising of any sort is an image creating phenomenon in which a need for a product is created. This takes place through a process of needs assessments and design of message and placement within the media. If one spans the radio dial during an election campaign, one will find candidates and their handlers specifically tailoring a message to particular audiences that reflects the needs of that audience's demographic characteristics (education, income, marital status, ethnicity). Creating political images is comparable to selling any product: create a need for and the desire to purchase the product. There are two avenues that may be followed in creating the perfect advertising spot: (1) rational appeals; and (2) emotional appeals. Safety, performance, appearance, comfort, economy, and durability are considered to be rational appeals, while human interest, comedy, conflict, uniqueness, prominence, sensuality, and sex are the emotional appeals. There is very little of the rational approach in creating a political image. In the final analysis, the selling of a candidate is not unlike the selling of a luxury item. The item is invented, the audience identified, the selling strategy designed, the individual spots tailored to fit the characteristics of a particular audience, and the advertisement placed where it will be the most effective. (DK)