On March 21, 2012, Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for 2012 US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, used the Using Etch A Sketch as a metaphor for how Romney intended to re-invent his campaign for the general election after a more conservative-leaning primary campaign. When asked, during a CNN interview, "Is there a concern that the pressure from Santorum and Gingrich might force the governor to tack so far to the right, it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?", Fehrnstrom replied, "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." Romney's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, seized on the comment as meaning that Romney's political views were a tabula rasa, and that he did not hold true conservative values. Each held up an Etch A Sketch at his own political media event, thus giving the toy additional unexpected national visibility. Not to be left out, candidate Ron Paul created a 41-second TV ad criticizing Gingrich and Santorum for being petty and not talking about “$15 trillion in debt, 12 million unemployed, and USA at war”.
The Romney campaign responded that the quote was in regards to organizational structure, and that Romney would continue talking about the same conservative issues and policies.
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