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Revision as of 19:36, 17 March 2008 by Hkr13 (talk | contribs) (Updated and corrected some fact issues.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Threatened with a measure that would severely impact their industry, the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) hired public affairs consultants, Ben Goddard and Rick Claussen of Goddard Claussen, to do something notoriously difficult: get the attention of elected officials when there was no election in sight. Positioning “Harry and Louise,” an average American couple, to speak “for” not “to” the American people, they created a campaign that highlighted the public’s concerns about the Clinton plan. The unique campaign caught the attention of the media, the White House and the American people.
“Harry and Louise” depicted a couple, portrayed by actors Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark, despairing over the allegedly bureaucratic nature of the plan and urged viewers to contact their representatives in Congress. It was widely credited as being a major factor in the plan's ultimate defeat, and is often cited as a landmark moment in the use of public relations techniques for lobbying. The Annenberg School of Communications audit of news coverage reported that the mythical characters garnered more press coverage than Vice President Al Gore and Majority Leader Richard Gephardt combined.
The couple made a brief return in an unrelated 2002 ad, produced by Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli (Goddard Claussen was purchased by Porter Novelli in 1999, and split from them in 2002. The media continues to write about “Harry & Louise” in the context of health care policy debates and, most recently, the Clinton campaign accused the Obama campaign of copying the couple in a campaign mailing.
The ad was also one of several prominent ads parodied in the 78th Academy Awards (March 2006). An older couple sitting at the kitchen table bemoans the "foreign-sounding names" of the best actress nominees, then praises Reese Witherspoon for having an all-American name.