The Republican presidential candidate said TV adverts are a ‘trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ.’
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign has stopped spending money on “idiotic” television advertisements with just weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, according to a campaign representative.
Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that the biotech entrepreneur had stopped purchasing standard broadcast TV ads—which typically make up the majority of political advertising spending in the United States—and does not have any booked for the immediate or distant future.
Instead, his campaign is focusing on a different strategy with less than a month to go before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, the spokesperson said.
“We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified—best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls, and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out,” Tricia McLaughlin, Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign’s press secretary told the broadcast television network.
“As you know, this isn’t what most campaigns look like. We have intentionally structured this way so that we have the ability to be nimble and hyper-targeted in our ad spending,” Ms. McLaughlin added.
Separately, Mr. Ramaswamy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that presidential TV ad spending is “idiotic,” comes with a low return on investment, and is a “trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ.”
“We’re doing it differently. Spending $$ in a way that follows data…apparently a crazy idea in US politics,” the GOP presidential candidate wrote.
“Big surprise coming on Jan 15,” he concluded.
$12 Million Plans
As recently as November, Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign said it planned to spend more than $12 million on ads, including broadcast, cable, radio, digital, and direct mail, in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Since that announcement, the campaign has spent $2.2 million on TV, digital, and radio ads, NBC News reported, citing figures from the political ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
