Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tonight, On a Very Special ‘Blossom’

I like the message of this ad, and I plan to hold my nose and vote for McCain.  But the man sounds like he’s talking to children when he over rehearses.  It doesn’t help that he looks like he’s on grandma’s porch in a rocking chair.  “Hey, kids, look both ways before you cross the street.  And hold a grownup’s hand.  Don’t take candy from strangers, and be sure to wash behind your ears. I’m John McCain, and I approve this message.” Followed by the NBC “The more you know…” theme.  And really, take a gander at that picture.  When will people learn to take a look at the frame at the halfway point of a video before uploading to YouTube?

That said, I appreciate that he wants to fight for America, but he needs to talk to us in a way different from how he would talk to Elmo on “Sesame Street.”

Can we please have a Sarah Palin ad?  “Hi, I’m Sarah Palin, and I have nothing to lose.  I’m going to go to Washington, kick some butt, then head back to Alaska to kill large animals and make coats out of them for my kids.  Do you think I have more balls than those folks in Washington?  You betcha.”  See?  Not even 20 seconds.

 

(2) Comments
Posted by Wendy at 1501 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

  1. I would be inclined to agree with you about the “Sesame Street” tone of this ad, but the target audience is undecided voters and the people in the middle. And these people are scattered. I won’t say they’re wandering aimlessly in a political desert, but let’s just say that there is no leader of the undecided movement.

    In this one minute ad, John boils down what he stands for. Not hard core red meat for the base, but common sense stuff, plain spoken. No nuance, no great explanation required. It’s so simple, even a caveman can understand it.

    It’s not The Federalist Papers or Reagan’s “A Time For Choosing” speech, but I think it speaks clearly to people who haven’t made up their mind yet.

    Posted by Josh Schroeder on October 17, 2008 at 0213 hrs


  2. Reagan might be able to pull this off, but not McCain. He’s not a good speaker, and he comes across as old and anemic. I love that he repeats the line “Obama wants to spread the wealth around”, as if voters outside his base will be offended.

    It looks like he’s copying the Obama ads of the last few months, where Obama sits in a similar room with nice music and speaks calmly about what he wants to do as president. But that works for Obama, because voters unsure about him as an inexperienced rock star get to see him as calm and common sense.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 17, 2008 at 0656 hrs


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