THE TAKEAWAY: It has been a campaign marked by nastiness, insults, lewd comments, false claims and conspiracy theories. So to stand out in a cluttered political ad market in the campaign’s final month, it helps to have a commercial that provides a contrast and uses a different tone that cuts through the clamor. The focus on children and positive message suggests the beginning of a closing argument from the Clinton campaign with less than five weeks to go before the election.

Changing channels …

New Look

For most of the general election, the Trump campaign’s sparse advertising has featured ads depicting Mr. Trump’s America and the country under Mrs. Clinton, the latter often painted in dark hues and with ominous narration. But a new ad from the Trump campaign, part of an advertising push over the final month of the race, takes a different approach: bright, bold green-and-blue banners shoot across the lower third of the screen, citing elements of Mr. Trump’s tax plan: a 20 percent reduction in the tax rate for families making $60,000, a $5,000 child-care tax credit for working mothers. Stock shots of smiling families fade in and out, and the ad ends with a picture of Mr. Trump opening his new hotel in Washington.

Touché, Celebrities

A few weeks after the screenwriter Joss Whedon created a web ad featuring a cadre of celebrities explaining the importance of voting in this election (and advocating a vote for Mrs. Clinton), an ad from BrabenderCox, a Republican ad firm, offers a response from “regular people.” Shot in the same simple way, a number of “regular people” speak directly to the camera: “Election Day is Nov. 8,” one woman says. “I know this because famous actors told me,” another says, in a sarcastic tone. Through a mash-up of people completing each other’s sentences, the point is made: “Again, thanks, famous actors, because it’s times like these when we realize just how lucky we are to have famous Hollywood actors to guide us.” The Whedon video, from his pro-Clinton “super PAC,” Save the Day, went viral, with over 24.6 million views powered by the likes of Robert Downey Jr. But the BrabenderCox video caught viral wind as well, earning 5.5 million views across all social networks, according to the group, with no actors sharing it.

Numbers

$2.9 MILLION Amount of airtime reserved by the Clinton campaign for the final three days.

$1.8 MILLION Amount of airtime reserved by the Trump campaign for the final three days.