shanen
shanen's JournalIs that an endorsement of the pastiche video?
I can really imagine Romney saying "Vote for me so that government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth."
It's really hard to relate Lincoln's progressive Republican Party or Teddy Roosevelt's GOP to Dubya's neo-GOP run amok.
But in terms of advertising?
We could argue about which religion is worse, but I don't see how to map the topic to an effective ad. In fundamental terms, the religious lunatics are anti-Obama, and there's no reasoning with them, and I think that extends to advertising.
To me the significant aspect of Mormonism is the requirement for missionary work. I think they are fundamentally teaching how to lie, and the core of it is lying to themselves. That's probably the most important part of it, actually. Given the resources the Mormons pour into missionary work, the actual return is abysmal.
Hmm... Actually, I just did think of an angle that might work, but it would depend on the crazy extremist endorsement... Of course you know who I'm thinking of, and so far Romney has dissuaded the lunatic from endorsing his fellow Mormon.
P.S. No one responded, but I was thinking about Glenn Beck, of course. You KNOW he hates President Obama, and he certainly wants to endorse Romney, even apart from the religious thing. However, I think that Romney has actually contacted Beck and said something like "As one Mormon to another, please don't endorse me in public. I already have the votes from your audience, but your endorsement could be used against me with some of the rational voters."
How about a rich and poor douchebag series of ads?
Wasn't originally thinking this way, but I must like comparative ads. The idea would be to pick a rich and poor douchebag and compare them. Of course the rich douchebags should be neo-GOP supporters or even politicians, but the contrasting poor douchebag can be selected more or less at random. Perhaps any popular news story about a poor fool?
However, the point of the ad would be a wrap-up about the cost incurred by the two douchebags, with especially focus on how much money the rich douchebag is taking from the government in contrast to the poor douchebag's minimal costs, probably for medical care or imprisonment.
Kind of disappointed that there isn't more interest in these topic of effective advertising, since I'm increasingly convinced that too many American voters are too easily manipulated by insincere and lying ads. The neo-GOP can buy LOTS of ads.
Wasting time on the rightwing base
The rightwing base is a bunch of cowards and haters, so they should not be a concern. The rabid neo-GOP voters are going to vote against Obama even if he had Jesus as his VP and the Stalin was the Republican candidate.
However, maybe you can change my mind with an interesting and concrete idea? However, to me it would be less important if the ad scares the neo-GOP than it persuades the weirdos in the middle. I'm not sure which is more mysterious: (1) Lincoln Republicans who support the neo-GOP. (2) GOP voters who still support the neo-GOP. (3) Undecided voters, given the vast differences between the parties.
The vulture capital theme is good
However, I actually think that's the angle that President Obama's SuperPAC is going to focus on. Coordinated? Of course not. I'm not denying that it will be effective with some voters, but I think Romney is a really big target with MANY flaws.
Then again, I personally hate liars. Even allowing for the political reality of lies, I think Romney is the biggest and baddest LIAR I've ever seen. It's not the flip-flopping, it's the lies.
I do agree that if Romney believes anything, it's that rich people are MORE important than anyone else. That's why I suggested the closing theme of my original idea... However, I'm not sure if Romney really believes that, either...
I was considering a suggestion about religious fanaticism, but I can't really think of a good theme along that line. Also, I think that Obama is going to stay far away from the Mormon thing. At the same time, I do think the Mormons are one of the worst bunches of fanatics out there. The Jehovah's Witnesses are worse, but there aren't many others.
What would be the most effective ad against Romney?
I suggest we have a kind of contest to devise the best ads to insure that Romney leads the neo-GOP to a MASSIVE defeat this year. Perhaps it could be done via YouTube and other websites in the form of video ads that go massively viral? Subjectively, I think it's too late, but I hope I'm wrong.
It would also be good to consider criteria for effective ads. However, right now I can only think of one: The best kind of ad should have a big multiplier to offset Citizens United and the vast pool of black money behind Romney. By "big multiplier", I mean that a small amount of money spent on the ad should encourage Romney's side to spend much more money trying to negate the ad. That might mean viral ads, but I think a good ad will need to be well produced and have at least some distribution on commercial stations. Of course the ultimate AMD (Ad of Mass Destruction) would be a "black hole" ad where NO amount of money would negate the ad, so that any response ads would just be throwing money into a black hole.
Here's my first candidate for such an ad:
My suggestion would be a series of two-part ads. In the first part, the theme would be "What does Romney believe?" I'd suggest using a vertical split screen. The left side would start with Romney taking one side of some issue, then it would freeze on Romney's face and show a big diagonal word for the theme of that side. The right side would then show Romney taking the OTHER side of the same issue, finally freezing with the opposite word plastered over his face. There are LOTS of these self-contradictions and they can make various versions for different audiences and to make a longer or shorter version. It might be especially amusing to close the first part with Romney taking three different positions on one issue. He's so dishonest and unprincipled that I'm sure he has done that, too.
Then in part two of the ad, the theme (in a top banner) would be "What does Romney really believe?" or "What we think Romney REALLY thinks". The bottom would be a pastiche video of Romney saying "Elect me so that government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth." The audio should be smooth enough to be heard clearly, while the video is herky jerky enough to show that there is no pretense that Romney actually said it--though at this point I really believe it is close to what he's really thinking.
THAT is actually a project I'd be interested in supporting. Romney looks so presidential and he has so much money! How can we stop him? Really effective ads could make it clear what a colossal LIAR Mitt Romney really is.
Profile Information
Name: Shannon JacobsGender: Male
Hometown: Big Stupid Texas
Home country: Alice's Wonderland
Current location: Mars
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 349
