The campaign ads that launched Jerry Springer’s television career were made in Philly
In 1982 Springer ran in the Democratic primary for governor of Ohio. To stand out he made a memorable ad where he addresses a past sex scandal where he paid a sex worker with a check.
For millennials of a certain age, the name Jerry Springer may evoke memories of taking a sick day from school and sneaking in a salacious episode of his namesake daytime TV show on the family couch. But those slightly older may remember Springer was elected to Cincinnati City Council in 1971, resigned in 1974 over a sex scandal, and returned to Council in 1975, only to become mayor in 1977.
Jerry Springer died Thursday at 79. Obituaries made note of his long career in television and time as a councilman and mayor.
» READ MORE: Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor whose namesake TV show unleashed chaos on weekday afternoons, has died at 79
Still, Springer’s political ambitions didn’t end there. In 1982 he would go on to unsuccessfully run in the Democratic primary for governor of Ohio, a campaign in which he famously addressed a skeleton that threatened his run in an ad: He’d paid a sex worker with a check.
The ad zooms in on Springer as he expresses remorse over the incident.
“Perhaps, like you, I’m not sure what any of this has to do with being governor,’’ a younger Springer tells viewers at home. ‘’But maybe my talking to you about this makes a point. Ohio is in a world of hurt. The next governor is going to have to take some heavy risks and face some hard truths. I’m prepared to do that.”
That ad and others that aired during the primary were made in Philadelphia by the Campaign Group, which has managed ad campaigns for hundreds of races around the country. The copy came from Springer’s campaign manager Michael Ford and was produced by the Campaign Group’s Mark Moskowitz.
Springer would ultimately lose the primary, earning only 15% of the vote, but his direct approach to a scandal remains one for the history books.
Neil Oxman, president of the Campaign Group at the time Springer ran for governor, spoke to The Inquirer about how the famous political ad came to be.
Answers were edited for clarity and brevity.
How did you connect with Jerry Springer during his campaign for governor?
In 1980 the Campaign Group, my company, worked for Ted Kennedy’s presidential campaign. We met a guy named Mike Ford, who was a political operative from Cincinnati, and he was Jerry Springer’s best friend.
[The Campaign Group] did his campaign and [Springer] actually came to Philadelphia at our office at 16th and Locust and did all the spots. He looked in the camera and made all these stand-up ads, including the one where he admitted to this thing that happened to him years before and which people in Cincinnati knew but people in the rest of the state did not know.
Whose idea was it to address the incident directly and how was it received within the campaign?
It was probably Mike Ford, his manager, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago. Michael was a brilliant tactician and I think that he and Jerry decided together that was the best way to handle it.
Instead of covering it up, you tell it on your terms. What Springer did was he told it on his terms, instead of letting his opponents talk about it, or the press talk about it, he talked about it directly to the camera. And this is, of course, when television, like newspapers, was different 41 years ago, when ratings were very high on TV, you know, from just broadcast TV.
Cable was in its infancy, there was no internet junk. So it was a way to talk about the incident before his opponents talked about it. And what happened was they didn’t talk about it, because he admitted it. It was a couple of days’ story in the press and then it went away.
What was the public’s reaction to a gubernatorial candidate admitting to paying a sex worker with a check?
I don’t know. I mean, he lost. I don’t think that was the reason he lost. It might have been one of them, but it certainly didn’t hurt him to this sense that he was still very popular in southwestern Ohio to the point where the conservative general managers of a TV station weren’t afraid to make him the lead anchor person.
I mean, they made him Jim Gardner. The station made him Jim Gardner within literally a year of this happening and the public wasn’t outraged.
He wasn’t going to win that primary anyhow just because he was a mayor of Cincinnati vs. candidates from Cleveland.
What were the shortcomings Springer couldn’t overcome in that primary?
Coming from a smaller market, he didn’t have as much money as some of the other people. I mean, the typical things that happened in campaigns, he wasn’t known at all really outside that area. And he didn’t have enough money to really make himself known in the kind of way that you needed to win a primary. That was really just a basic campaign issue.
You said those campaign ads caught the attention of the local TV station, kicking off his broadcast career. What was it about Springer that made him such a good fit for television?
You are or you’re not. You have it or you don’t. People are professional TV watchers and they know what they like and then they know what they don’t like and there was something sincere about him. He was articulate. He was able to deliver a message very succinctly and clearly. He was a pretty good-looking guy, there was nothing offensive about him, and he could read a teleprompter really well when he got on the air. He was a good writer. You know, all the things that make you watch a certain anchorperson and not watch another anchorperson. I mean, it’s chemistry, it’s not intellectual. It’s emotional.
Would that ad be received differently today?
I don’t know how it would be received today. It’s a lot easier to get destroyed on social media than it was 40 years ago. If you got destroyed 40 years ago, either your opponent had to do it or the newspapers had to do it. Today, some troll can destroy you. It’s a different world.
And that’s a good question. I don’t know the answer to it.