Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tories Repeatedly Punch Brown's Smug Mug.




(click ads, via) I know little about British PM and Labour Party leader Gordon Brown (other than that he's scared of "skunk" cannabis, and that he's "embattled"), and less about the conservative Tory party. However, I do know something about political advertising, having worked on a Governor's (not New York) campaign in my sordid past. These billboards, which have been erected in 2,000 locations nationwide, represent the second wave of the Tories negative Nelly campaign, via London's M&C Saatchi.
Heavy Helvetica (that's what it is, right ADs?) always works well for bashing messages. I dislike the lack of proper punctuation, but this is typical of prissy art directors who don't like dots and dashes mucking up their "canvasses." The strapline is disappointing, utilizing the supremely hackneyed "C" word. But overall, especially compared to the usual butt-ugly mess you get with ads by committee, they're not bad. They'd be even more impactful wheat-pasted and stacked, just like above, in urban street locations. Are they lies? Probably depends on what you mean by "lies."
Previously in political ads:
Charles Taylor.
Freddy Ferrer.
Democrats 08.
Robert Mugabe.
Mark Green vs. Andrew Cuomo.

7 Comments:

Blogger Welshaims said...

I have always been a labour supporter and dislike negative electoral campaigns but these are way better than the Labour effort. See article below:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7549078/Labour-poster-attack-on-Tories-backfires.html

I have also got the lib dem campaign (pretty good) and the piss takes of the previous airbrushed Cameron posters on my blog (this was pre-Saatchi)

http://diaryofanadvertisinggirl.blogspot.com/2010/03/labservatism.html

http://diaryofanadvertisinggirl.blogspot.com/2010/01/make-your-own-tory-poster-poser-haha.html

12:24 PM  
Anonymous jpeeps said...

Re lack of punctuation, I think this may bea Br English thing - as a Brit I find US English frequently over-punctuated with commas etc (eg even the NYT).

12:43 PM  
Blogger copyranter said...

I am also a disliker of commas, but do feel partial to the period.

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

re: punctuation - you know, it's a choice esp. in headlines. But that whole "Vote Conservative" without a period is just sloppy, especially following another sentence.

4:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

they have to use the 'c' word... it's the official name of their party...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_%28UK%29

6:27 PM  
Blogger copyranter said...

Uh, I meant "change"

6:42 PM  
Blogger melissa. said...

i consider "conservative" to be a dirty 'c' word.

11:10 PM  

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