Monday, March 07, 2011

They're Going Neg

The Green Party rolls out an attack ad...on attack ads.



In my mind, this is a great ad. Likely the best so far of the pre-election cycle.

It's well produced but, as the Tories have shown, production value isn't the most important trait of a political ad. The key is to have a the right message targeted at the right audience.

With the environment fading as an issue since the downturn, the Greens' target audience right now is very much the "disillusioned voter". The people who want to "send a message" or vote "none of the above". This add plays directly to them, and captures the feeling of disgust they have towards the major parties.

There are, however, two possible problems with this campaign.

The first is that I doubt a "politics sucks" message is going to motivate Canadians to go to the polls and take the time to vote. There is a twinge of hope at the end of the commercial, but I wonder if it will be enough.

The other, larger, problem is that the Greens are reportedly spending less than $10,000 on the ad buy. These ads have great potential to go viral - but as a viral campaign, it's primarily going to reach Canadians who are already engaged in the political process. To reach disillusioned voters, you really need to be advertising on mainstream TV shows.

As I said, it's a great ad. But it will only do the Greens any good if their target audience actually sees it.

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7 Comments:

  • like anyone but the die-hards gives a flying crap about anything greenie or the jokes that Lizzie in a Tizzy call policy planks.

    Greenism is just a past tense political fad.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:13 p.m.  

  • It's a great ad because the weakest link is missing from the ad: May.

    It makes sense to pretend on the CBC show this is not an attack ad or May does not sling mud.

    It was funny watching Evan fail to ask about her rhetoric or previous statements.

    By Blogger CanadianSense, at 7:18 p.m.  

  • I like it.

    By Blogger sassy, at 9:27 p.m.  

  • Is that a joke?

    Rather than create an ad showing how Greens do politics differently*, they ironically create yet another attack ad.

    Irony. It's not just lost on Alanis.

    (*The Greens actually don't do politics differently. Has Elizabeth May ever talked for more than 2-3 minutes without attacking someone?)

    By Blogger Robert Vollman, at 10:10 a.m.  

  • $10,000 isn't bad if they're only going to run it in BC (which is the only seat that they should care about).

    By Anonymous W, at 10:45 a.m.  

  • Vollman is bang on.

    The irony is priceless.

    An attack ad, attacking attack ads.

    Stupid and stupider. Of course you know some "green".. ie) self-asborbed politico who could care less about the "average" Canadian thought this was the hight of wit.

    By Blogger Robert G. Harvie, Q.C., at 12:17 p.m.  

  • Has Elizabeth May ever talked for more than 2-3 minutes without attacking someone?

    Ha ha ha....

    Agreed 100%... she's as vicious as any other partisan. Her negativity is a total turn-off for a party I wish I could support.

    By Anonymous Jacques Beau Verte, at 2:36 p.m.  

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