Republican entrepreneur and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has made a surprising move, announcing a halt to the spending on television advertisements. Traditionally, spending on television ads takes up the majority of political campaign budgets, especially in the United States. In a statement to NBC News, Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed that they have ceased purchasing standard broadcast TV ads and have no plans to book any in the immediate or distant future.
Instead of the typical spending spree on TV ads, the campaign is switching tactics in the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Tricia McLaughlin, Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign’s press secretary, told NBC News, “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.”
The decision has also been echoed by Mr. Ramaswamy, who took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to denounce presidential TV ad spending as “idiotic.” He criticized the low return on investment and labeled it a “trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ.” Additionally, Mr. Ramaswamy teased a “big surprise” to come on January 15.
With a previously announced plan to spend over $12 million on various ad platforms, including broadcast, cable, radio, digital, and direct mail, the campaign has only shelled out $2.2 million on TV, digital, and radio ads thus far. This is in contrast to the more than $200,000 spent on TV ads during the first week of December, which was then drastically slashed to just $6,000.
Despite the shift away from TV ad spending, Mr. Ramaswamy remains optimistic about his chances in the upcoming Iowa caucus. During an appearance on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” he expressed confidence in “overdelivering massively.”
However, polling data suggests that the 38-year-old candidate trails behind former President Donald Trump by a significant margin. The RealClearPolitics average of Republican Primary polls puts Trump at 62.5 percent with Mr. Ramaswamy trailing in fourth place with just 4 percent support. Similar results are reflected in the latest Emerson College poll in Iowa, where Trump leads with 50 percent support among Republican caucus voters.
Despite the optimistic, yet somewhat improbable, expectations, it remains to be seen how Mr. Ramaswamy’s unconventional ad strategy will serve him as the crucial primary dates draw near.
