Etch A Sketch responds to political comment with new campaign

BRYAN, Ohio — After being thrust into the political arena, Ohio Art has launched a series of ads designed to maintain the political neutrality of its classic drawing toy.

Ohio Art announced that its advertising agency, Team Detroit, has launched three ads for the company's Etch A Sketch product. The campaign followed comments made by a political aide of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who said, "you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again."

The campaign, which is supported by a revamped "Shake It Up, America" website, launched on Facebook and Twitter along with a series of clever posts and tweets. The ads feature fun visuals and catchy slogans such as "Etch A Sketch is a lot like politics, there's a lot of gray area," "Politically we lean right down the middle, which way did you lean?" and "We have a left knob and a right knob for each political party (But remember, when both work together, we can do loop de loops)."

"With Etch A Sketch shaking up the political debate, it was our desire to develop a campaign that encourages Americans to get involved in the process and vote," Ohio Art SVP marketing and product development Martin Killgallon said. "We feel these ads are fun and engaging and will continue to keep people interested throughout the remaining presidential campaign."

Added Team Detroit SVP group account director David Maas, "Etch A Sketch doesn't take political sides. We believe that when the left hand and the right hand work together, magic happens and these ads were developed to convey that message."