Fox News launching new ad campaign about its 'real honest opinion'

Fox News teased its new advertising campaign on Monday that reportedly will use this tagline: "Real news. Real honest opinion."

The teaser features some of the network's biggest stars, including commentator Tucker Carlson and journalist Chris Wallace. The ads in the campaign will be rolled out over the next couple of weeks.

Ad Age and the political news website, The Hill, have offered details about the campaign.

The new slogan follows the "Fair and Balanced" motto that Fox used when it launched in 1996. The late Roger Ailes, former chairman and CEO, is credited with creating the old slogan, according to The Hill.

Pushing back against President Trump's "fake news" bashing, CNN also launched a new ad campaign last year called "Facts First." One ad begins by showing an apple.

“Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana," says the narrator. "They might scream ‘banana, banana, banana’ over and over and over again. They might put BANANA in all caps. You might even start to believe that this is a banana. But it’s not. This is an apple."

Ad Age says Fox's new campaign gives co-president Jack Abernethy a chance to "put a fresh stamp on Fox News" after a tumultuous time in which Ailes and former show host Bill O'Reilly both exited in disgrace following sexual harassment allegations.

The new ad campaign highlights Fox's news and opinion offerings.

"Fox is the one place where dissent is allowed," Tucker Carlson says in one of the spots, Ad Age reveals.

"We are going to ask the tough questions because there is a lot of conventional wisdom out there that needs to be challenged," says Fox news anchor Martha MacCallum in another.

For a second year in a row, Fox News was the most-watched cable network in 2017 with an average 2.4 million viewers, according to Ad Week. That bested MSNBC, which averaged 1.6 million viewers, and 1.1 million for CNN.

"Donald Trump continued to be good news for cable news networks in 2017," Deadline reported in December. "Beneficiaries include both the network he likes (Fox News Channel) and those he hates/threatens (everyone else)."

This story was originally published March 12, 2018 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Fox News launching new ad campaign about its 'real honest opinion'."