Foolish blue-collar lackeys obediently stuff dollars into brown sacks while greedy businessmen look on and laugh.

That was the scene conjured by a newsreel from 1912. The short film, called “the old way and the new way,” was produced by Woodrow Wilson’s (D) presidential campaign.

It was the nation’s first negative ad with moving pictures.. The ad, though viciously satirical was about policies rather than people.

Here is a collection of negative campaign ads from the past and the present:

The classic: Lyndon Johnson’s ad from 1964 played on fears of nuclear war

The Rovean masterpiece: The swift boat vets slam Kerry in 2004

1980: A vote for Jimmy Carter is what the terrorists want!

Hubert Humphrey 1968: What has Nixon ever done for you?

Mondale and Ferarro attack Reagan’s rollercoaster

Part Matrix, part end times theology: the McCain campaign place Obama in prophecy

Joe Moody Candidate for Texas HD 78, 2008

Dee Margo Candidate for Texas HD 78, 2008

And here are a few positive ads to make you feel warm inside:

It’s morning in America: Reagan 1984


Eisenhower 1954