Campaign commercials: the good, the bad and the ugly

Thread should start out with what must have been the most eye-catching commercial so far - back in March, only on YouTube, and not created by any official campaign:

And here's the newest John Edwards ad. It's good - at least I think so. My kind of candidate

Heroes

JTT posted a link to a great Democratic ad from 2006 in another thread - watch this:

Blatham flagged a psychedelic ad of Gravel's, definitely not the like of any we'll see otherwise



Then again, this one had already come out from Gravel's before, and is only slightly less... original:

Watching those we chose: Campaign Video of the Day -- October 31, 2007

Feel-good new Edwards ad

(Oh, and Anastasia loved the Gravel ad Blatham flagged. She's all, if that video was the only thing I saw, I'd vote for him :wink: )

A new Obama ad that won some praise: click on the image to see it. Based on his acclaimed Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner speech last month.

Transcript and (interesting) analysis here.

I showed Anastasia the above Obama ad. She liked it, and she normally disdains campaign ads, shares none of my fascination with 'the game'. She's all, hey thats a good one.

I also showed her the one from Edwards further up - not the last one, but the Heroes one, the one I pasted an image from. She liked that one too. When I asked her which one she liked better, she shrugged, she said they were both good. A lot better than a lot of other ones she saw, thats for sure!

For me, what struck me when looking at these two in a row, is first, that the format is very similar. Politician, speeching. But in this kind of emotional, even somewhat melodramatic way. Not your shopping list of issues or your issue of the day, not something from the to and fro of the campaign, they're both aiming for something transcending that. Going for the grandeur of inspiration. Commitment. You got the music, the crescendo building up till you feel something stir, some belief, something to pull you over that high threshold of scepticism. At least thats what they're both going for, and they're going for it in the same way.

Second thing that struck me was that the message behind the similar style is almost the opposite. There's two contrasts specifically that struck me, fair or not.

One, Edwards starts off right away saying, dont look to me. We're not the heroes, we're well cared for. Its you who are the heroes, you, the ordinary, hardworking people of America. There's echoes of Howard Dean's rhetoric, from when Dean kept going, you've got the power! Dont look to me, believe in yourself and I will help you - YOU have the power. Obama's ad meanwhile, to me, emanates the opposite: look at me! I'm smart, I'm passionate, I'm on a mission. If you trust and support me, I will make great things happen. I want to be President, President of the United States of America.

OK, now that may not be entirely fair - it might be that in another two ads, the impression might just be the other way round. Well, not quite the other way round, I dont think. But different. May also be that I'm overreading Obama's ad on the basis of my prior impressions of him.

The second difference is more concrete and obvious. Edwards has an almost Dean type message, except that from him it sounds more like an angry regular guy thing, rather than an angry liberal activist kind of thing. I want the Democratic Party to have some backbone again. To have some guts! Or, is the message, I will fight for you. I will stand up for you! Obama's words, though delivered in the same crescendo of passionate commitment, have an opposite message: I dont want to pit the red states against the blue states. I dont want strife, a divided nation. I want to be president of you all - I want to be the president of a United States of America!

No prize for having guessed which of the two messages resonates with me, and which kind of left me cold...

Obama does have this voice that, when he gets into it, like through the second part of this ad, with the people cheering him on, it's stirring, it's like a wave. But I still dont quite get it, his appeal. To me, usually he comes across like at the beginning of this ad - kind of professorial. Smart, reasonable, Explaining It to us. Funny how even when you've followed the race closely for so long, it's still personal, superficial gut-type reactions like that which determine much of your immediate response. Meanwhile, in the second half of the ad he is speaking more with his heart - but the words he says dont do anything for me, the message makes me shrug. But yeah, I mean - whatever -- it's not my vote they've got to win!

Yikes, how did that get so long! It was just some impressions...

Isn't that what Bush claimed while he was running for office. He was going to unite us all and be a people person. What a bunch of B S. Im going to point out one more time Obama is a Chicago politician who is backed by the Daily Machine.

Hollywood drama.
much ado about nothing.
http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=108179

Ron Paul videos must be among the most curious and entertaining around. Not the official ones, mind. The homemade ones, the endless supply of Ron Paul videos on YouTube that were produced by various enthusiasts. Having cornered a significant share of the respective markets of offbeat youths, IT and design guys, web geeks and outright nuts doesnt hurt, of course.

So: presenting three of the more engaging examples. Click on the pics to go to the vids...

First things first: outright zany nuttery! Musical zany nuttery. Well, OK - a rapping pizza slice. Some of the most unlikely rhymes you'll have heard being spit this side of Weird Al.





Still on the offbeat tip, but more charmingly so: a sweet girl singing her wide-eyed tribute to Ron Paul's policies, competently strumming her guitar and homespun charm. Positively endearing.

Moreover, you just know that if Ron Paul would ever sit down with one of these pretty teenage fans, he would discuss policy only, awkwardly but sincerely - nothing on his mind but the IRS and the gold standard. Which kind of adds to the charm.





And finally, fair is fair, there's some impressively professional musical backing for the Paul campaign too. This unlikely combination of infectious hip-hop and Ron Paul politics is the real deal - and definitely unexpected!





<saunders off humming, We need Ron Paul / for the long haul.. / Ron Paul 2008 dot com..>

Look...

Mitt Romney is suddenly trying to reincarnate as Obama 2.0

Gone the negative attack ads, solemn pledges to be the most conservative of all, and lambastations of Huckabee for daring to criticize George Bush...

Suddenly it's Mitt who is going to "change Washington, take it apart and put it back together" because it's "broken". Don't send "the same people to Washington just to sit in different chairs", send - umm.. - the guy who just a month ago still got indignant at the merest criticism of GWB, instead.

An oldie but still hilarious, made during the Iowa campaign.



"Mike isnt a corrupt crossdressing sex addict from pushy New York whose friends are all indicted or gay"

Here's another one from the same maker:

Election 08: An Unwelcome Endorsement

"Tax n' Spend Messiah" :wink:

Have all o'ya seen this yet?

Not an ad, but in support of Obama - very definitely worth a watch & listen.

No, really.

Yes, We Can 08





I like it. Anastasia really liked it; she said it was "powerful". One of the few times Ive seen her attention caught by any of this campaign stuff like that.

Ha! It was a question of time before a parody would appear, of course... and this one is pretty good



(Does anybody ever click on these links btw?)

Heh...!

(Does it need saying that the signing person is totally making it up? I didn't think so.)

There was a fantastic election in
war-torn Afganisthan and Iraq
and according to the corporate controlled western Media
it was a grand success where campaign expenses were due to security reasons and not the so called billions wasted on advertisements.
The election in USA is far far away
and the money wasted so far+ is large and huge to pick up two candidates for the final selection?
Is this the norms of Democracy the whole world wish to follow?

Yay! Someone is click my link!

(And heh, about the signing.. )