It’s a fun ad, but sorry to say, the Liberals will have to step it up and get nastier. Truth is, nasty attack ads are a guilty pleasure for most, like disco, like Neil Diamond–they tell their friends, ‘yuck, no way!’, but behind closed doors, it’s up full blast. Polls have shown recently that about half the country thinks attack ads work.
Dan Delmar, on CJAD, a few weeks ago, basically chided Ignatieff on the air, practically issuing him a dare following first set of Harpercon attack ads, He said, basically, “Hey, Michael! Harper just attacked you! What’re you going to do about it?” Delmar’s tone was pretty chiding, daring. He is part of that younger generation who appear to be apathetic for the most part, and seem to want our politicians performing more death defying stunts.
That PUCAB ad is cute and upbeat. The problem is folks are not upbeat and cute will make folks gag, if I could be so bold. The political climate is fear and anger, and that needs to be catered to and played on. Hope and change isn’t where it’s at. They tried that with “Yes we can!” Obama in the who became, “no we can’t!” What a disappointment he was!
Speaking of Obama, those who are still looking for that President Obama speech trait in our opposition leaders, haven’t you learned by observing state side? As they say in French “Gros parleur; petit faiseur!” All talk, no action!
Nope, time for the heavy artillery. I understand that budgets are tight, but I’m sure more funds can be raised if the attack ads’ volumes were pumped up. Yeah, the media will criticize. But guess what? The media criticizes opposition, mainly Liberals for not being oppositional enough. Can’t win. I say go for broke! And remember, the media of today is right leaning and more Harper-friendly.
Let’s also remember that Stephane Dion and his sincere gentleman personality taking the high road gave his party the lowest showing in 2008, since the 80s.
![[small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg]](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WGczmWu7Wwc/SdCJyy2LN1I/AAAAAAAABWE/ABYCkbJaKaQ/s1600/small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg)
The main criticism of the LPC is that they are weak and lacking in courage, they need to counter this perception by hitting hard and often. While there is a ton of ammo out there they will need to focus on a limited number of issues instead of taking a scatter gun approach.
Having said that I PUCAPAB ad is effective in the sense that for a change the LPC is getting some positive coverage and when was the last time that happened.
ck Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:12 AM
I’m going by that radio host, Dan Delmar, although, he made his comments long before this ad came out. Dan Delmar is the only talk radio host under 30 years of age these days at CJAD, so I will defer to what he says on certain issues. When he was asking “Harper just attacked you, what are you going to do about it?” in a chiding and daring tone, I will take that to mean he would like to see Iggy, for openers, responding to the attack ads, by hitting harder; nastier.
The Liberal party won’t get positive coverage in the corporate media as for the most part, it is right leaning these days. Even the CBC has been kinda sucking up to Stevie as of late, remember, they’d like to keep their funding. The only outlet that isn’t too Harper friendly is the Toronto Star, and that’s not a national outlet and even they have a few writers who appear to think Stevie is quite dreamy, like Di Manno, Perischilli and to some degree, Chantal Hebert.
This country is in a hell of a lot of trouble, with Harper at the helm. His nattering of Global governance, tics me right off. Oh!!! We need global governance!! We must have global governance!! The hell we do. Bilderberg Group anyone? No thank you. Harper is an underhanded shyster, proroguing parliament to dodge questions, he wanted not to answer. On TV, I heard two M.P’s say, Harper was a fascist dictator, and too stubborn to work with. They are absolutely right. Being from BC we all know Harper’s part, in the asinine HST scam. Campbell, Hansen and Harper, colluded on the HST, before the BC election. Hansen finally admitted, the HST papers were on his desk, before the election. Premier Campbell ripped the BC people off for the HST, and gave it to Harper, as to their plan. What kind of an idiot province, gives taxes away, for no benefit for the people, nor the province? The HST, isn’t called, the Harper Sales Tax, for nothing.
ck Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 2:19 PM
I heard two M.P’s say, Harper was a fascist dictator, and too stubborn to work with.
Apparently, former colleagues of Steve’s have said the same things according to Lawrence Martin’s Harperland, well, maybe not in those words, exactly, but they certainly painted that kind of picture.
What Harper has done well – and is a large part of his success – is that he mimics the Republican/Fox News attack machine. He has no compunction whatsoever about getting down and dirty and investing in slick ads that play during sporting (mostly NFL) events. His quick hit approach gets to the heart of an audience not willing to delve into specifics or reality. It’s the show, stupid. The Liberals are still old school, appealing to Canadians’ intellect, not so much emotion.
Today, it’s about our 15 seconds of fame. Blog posts, Twitter, HD, quick edit music videos, have all combined to sharpen our visual acuity and shorten our attention spans. Emotion and slogans play a far greater role in shaping people’s perceptions. Fox News’ grade 5 level discourse, short skirts and long legs, and flash visuals have lulled millions of Americans into a stupor, where they believe whatever they are fed. While the Con’s ads are far more subtly made than anything on Fox News, the mechanism is the same. Repetition, slogans and fear on HD TVs now resound far more than a cogent argument or speech. The Liberals cannot reclaim their glory until they fight back, get nasty and use the media in the same way the Conservatives have done. It’s time for the Liberals to join the 21st century.
So what are WE going to do about it?
ck Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:46 PM
I know that a few bloggers have come up with shorter more catchy, dark ads of their own. They should attempt to sell them.
I have an idea as well, and it comes straight from Lawrence Martin’s Harperland. That coalition bogeyman will come up again, perhaps all the opposition parties should put up that coalition letter Steve wrote and co-signed by Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe, to then Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, in 2004 on billboards. I would add to this– put them up on TV and on social media sites, as well as have someone with a sinister voice read them aloud on radio ads.
They’re a sayin’ Iggy is too “pro-American” –hell, how about usin’ that secret deal Steve is making with Obama? Also, bring back that 1997 speech Steve made when he was with National Citizens’ Coalition to that American right winged think tank.
I’m sure after I finish reading Harperland, I could probably come up with more ideas.
How do you know that it will not work?
It has been seen about 8000 times already and that is not a bad start. I worry that those who want to see Harper gone as you claim to are a bit self destructive. I believe that nothing will “work” in as much as nothing will work in a vacuum. I can tell ya this much though, if many read this blog, it will work at least slightly less well than it would have without this very odd “musing”.
Thanks for your contribution to it’s success. But, unless this is some kind of clever “Child Psychology” thing, I expect better from you!
ck Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 7:00 AM
Problem is; I don’t expect better from Canadians as a whole, and none of the opposition should neither. At first I thought it was cute. Then I played it back for my husband and Dan Delmar talked a bit about it on his show. The ad is downright corny.
Dan Delmar, as I’ve mentioned, is a talk radio host under the age of 30, who hosts a panel every Sunday of other 20 and 30 somethings. They’re representative enough for me. They pretty much want to see those attack ads. They want to see Iggy fighting back. They want somethign ‘sexy’. Young folks in general also love to see politicians perform death defying stunts to get them to the voting booth. Today’s youth are extremely shallow. More so than in previous generations.
Most have very short attention spans and don’t think outside the box and believe everything they hear and read. An attack ad comes up, they’ll swallow it as truth, because, who has time for research? thinking outside the box? PLease! We’ve been dumbed down.
We need nasty attack ads with slogans. Here’s a guide for the opposition, (other than the 2004 coalition letter idea, of course), if the slogan don’t fit on a bumper sticker, don’t use it!
It may have been seen by 8000 ppl, it doesn’t mean that the ad persuades them to vote Liberal. If anything, it probably turned them away. Insipid rap songs to drawings reminiscent of Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings simply won’t do.
This is an age of social media. Twitter where 140 characters and less rule. And the Liberals (as well as NDP) better catch on to that. People have short attention spans.
No, the Harpercons have started the game. Now the object is to learn the game very quickly and then beat them at it.
They have the hyper partisan Guy Giorno and the bratty partisan Jenni Byrne running that war room. The Liberals (as well as other parties) need their Guy and Jenni.
To be truly effective, a campaign needs to be fashioned with diverse audiences in mind. While “PUCAPAB” might not resonate with the demographic you think will be the only one viewing it, you might be surprised to discover that others respond to it quite well and that your characterization of the demographic in question is overly restrictive.
That said, other messages tailored to other sizeable and discernable attitudinal groups should also be included in the overall campaign. If that means enough young voters would be game for hard-hitting anti-Conservative/pro-Opposition messages, then those should be considered – the difference being that, unlike the Conservatives, their opponents don’t need to fabricate or distort a single thing, as Harper’s endless antics and those of that circus train he calls a Party are overflowing with the kind of jaw-dropping, forehead-slapping idiocy material that are the richest grist imaginable for that kind of mill.
There IS such a thing as righteous anger. It’s what the majority of Canadians are feeling increasingly as they watch their country being hurled in one regressive direction after another by a rogue and theocratic minority. And, while it’s impossible to be both angry and smart at the same time, there are smart ways whereby a party can signal that majority that it gets and shares that anger – it’s just that it has some really, really good ideas about how to stop the abuse and chart a far saner course starting yesterday.
That’s not stooping to the HarperCons’ level; that’s doing the “passion thing” right. And, by adopting a multi-demographic approach, that would be doing it smart, as well.
ck Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 12:47 PM
I get the feeling, particularly from today’s youth is that these politicians need to be more entertaining. Circus death defying acts would be helpful, but devoid of that, we only have short attention spans; all must be said basically in under 140 characters or less.
Like I mentioned earlier, as tacky and tasteless as this may sound, but hey, folks love Don Cherry and the World Wrestling Federation, there is no accounting for taste where Canadians are concerned, so, if I may be so bold, it’s almost like Zsuszanna and Laureen can have a mudwrestling competition and the whomever wins, her husband will win the election.
Dan Delmar’s panel awhile back were discussing politics. They all despise Stevie Spiteful. They don’t like what he’s turning Canada into. Logically, one would think that would be enough to get them to the polls and vote for anybody but Harper. But, no, not quite.
Attack ads work. Pure and simple. Folks don’t want the truth. They like to think the worst. I say pander to it. Give ‘em what they want. Opposition hasn’t learned this yet.
As I’ve also mentioned, they need their Guy Giornos and Bratty Jenni Byrnes running their war rooms. Anything short of that will be the makings of losing campaigns.