{"id":1889,"date":"2008-09-03T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-03T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=1889"},"modified":"2008-09-03T08:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-03T12:02:00","slug":"election-08-ad-watch-bad-actors-love-harper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=1889","title":{"rendered":"Election ’08 Ad Watch: Bad Actors LOVE Harper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first election ad is now airing (I saw it twice on Toronto TV over the weekend) so it’s time to roll out my first recurring election post series – a review of Election ’09<\/strike> Election ’08 commercials. I’m hoping to post similar reviews to all the election ads that appear during the campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Initial Reaction:<\/strong> I know it’s hard to find an actor willing to work for the Tories these days but would it have killed them to do a few more takes so that people sounded almost <\/em>sincere?<\/p>\n

Ad Intent:<\/strong> Revive the “Tim Hortons” myth that worked in ’05\/’06, soften up Canadians on Harper, and set things up for the eventual framing of the election as being all about leadership.<\/p>\n

Tag Line: “<\/strong>Strong leadership on your side<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Things That Work:<\/strong> The girl at the end hits out of the park with the “I’ll be voting for the first time and I’ll be voting for Stephen Harper<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Things That Don’t Work:<\/strong> Sweater vested and smilling Stephen Harper looks like he wants to steal my soul.<\/p>\n

Grey Power:<\/strong> Is it just me, or did they dye Harper’s hair grey to make him look “wiser” in this ad?<\/p>\n

Cliche Counter:<\/strong> 4 (Guy with tool belt and pick-up truck to show he’s hard working “average guy”. Children on playground. Veteran with medals. Two visible minorities<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Grade:<\/strong> B-<\/p>\n

Reader Grade:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
How Would You Rate This Ad?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

B<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
D<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
F<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

See Results<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

SCHEDULING UPDATE:<\/em><\/strong> This ad aired 4 times last night during The Daily Show\/Colbert Atlantic Canada feed I was watching…looks like a heavier East Coast media buy than the Toronto one to me.<\/p>\n<\/form>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first election ad is now airing (I saw it twice on Toronto TV over the weekend) so it’s time to roll out my first recurring election post series – a review of Election ’09 Election ’08 commercials. I’m hoping to post similar reviews to all the election ads that appear during the campaign. Initial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}