I am intrigued by political campaign communications...The campaign ad guys poll, analyze and generate ideas that sometimes make you wonder, "where in the world did THAT idea come from?!" Like today's ad issued by John McCain's campaign, comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Whoa! Now that's different...!
Alas! Some bright mind realized that Obama has "celebrity" status ("biggest celebrity in the world") like Paris or Britney, but he's inexperienced to run the country. SLAM! They show huge crowds coming out to chant for Obama...but similar to Paris and Britney?! I just don't get the connection...as I suspect most of the general public won't get either.
The interesting thing about this ad is it shows Obama as a handsome fellow, with HUGE crowds chanting his name...Wow, there's huge momentum here - maybe I need to really pay attention, if all those other folks are for this guy, maybe I should be, too.
The ad guys then go for the zinger: Obama is against offshore drilling (as if that's going to reduce our dependence on foreign oii?) and for raising taxes...Psht! "Inexperienced to lead...the Real Obama"...says McCain who approved this message.
...take a look, and judge for yourself - are you convinced by this piece?
Let's face it, McCain has a tough challenge ahead running against Obama who, indeed, probably does have celebrity status. I'm not sure that this is a weakness, however, since Americans LOVE their celebrities - they'd vote Oprah in to the presidency in a heartbeat and they follow Britney and Paris more than they do their Sunday preacher. McCain, on the other hand, is a much older man who is being painted as "Bush's third term guy." Looks like defense to me.
It's interesting, then, that McCain's campaign chose the approach of shining a spotlight on Obama's strengths, and then using oil and taxes as the hammer. Somehow I think that the power of the earlier images do more for Obama than the messages hurt him in the latter part of the spot.
The Obama camp quicky responded: "Just another of McCain's false, negative attacks..."
Ah! It's gonna be a long campaign season - what fun!
--C.L.C.
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