Team Detroit

The maker of Etch A Sketch is trying to put a positive spin on its status as a political insult with a new advertisement campaign.

“Etch A Sketch is a lot like politics,” reads one ad. “There’s a lot of gray area.”

Team Detroit

Another has an etching of an American flag. “We have a left knob and a right knob for each political party,” the ad says. “But remember, when both work together, we can do loop de loops.”

After an aide to Mitt Romney set off a ruckus in the run-up to the Louisiana primary last Saturday by saying that Mr. Romney could reset his campaign just like an Etch A Sketch, the meme stuck around.

Mr. Romney’s rivals have brandished the toy like a weapon, and others have tried do the same. A House candidate in Colorado, for example, called his opponent an “Etch A Sketch congressman.”

In an exit poll of Louisiana voters, one in five said they were influenced by the Etch A Sketch remark.

After the initial attention, “I expected it to go away like everything else in the news cycle,” said Larry Killgallon, the president and chief operating officer the Ohio Art Company, which makes the Etch A Sketch.

But the toy continued to get intense, but not upbeat, exposure. So, the company unveiled ads online on Thursday.

“We had all kinds of headlines, but we wanted to steer the direction of the conversation in a little bit more of a positive direction,” said Gary Pascoe, the creative director at Team Detroit, the ad agency behind the posters.

On Thursday afternoon, the Ohio Arts Company also started ShakeItUpAmerica.net, a site with links for both voter registration and Etch A Sketch retailers. And lest anyone read into the iconic red color of the traditional Etch A Sketch, blue and flag-themed versions of the toy will be out in a few months, Mr. Killgallon said.

While Mr. Killgallon said Etch a Sketch sales have seen “positive activity,” spring is not prime toy-buying season. Like the campaigns, he is looking with great anticipation to November.

The last poster of the series is below.