Mockery and muckraking enliven France's internet hustings

[Flagg]

MOCKERY AND MUCKRAKING ENLIVEN FRANCE'S INTERNET HUSTINGS

Received Sunday, 4 February 2007 14:47:00 GMT
PARIS, Feb 4, 2007 (AFP) - One of the most popular Internet sites of France's presidential election shows a mocked-up figure of the right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy dancing to disco tunes.
Browsers at the www.discosarko.com site can choose a song and a nightclub backdrop and set the virtual puppet in motion. It is ridiculous, faintly derisory and -- most interestingly -- created and paid for by the contender's own campaign.
"It is just a gimmick -- something to show the lighter side of Sarko," said Francois Delabrosse, website designer at Sarkozy's headquarters. "We want to get people interested, because we think the more people know about him the more they like him."
Sophisticated subliminal marketing is just one aspect of an Internet frenzy that has been mobilised ahead of April's election. With already one the most active web-scenes in the world, France is enjoying a cyberspace campaign on a level so far only seen in the United States.
Both Sarkozy and his Socialist rival Segolene Royal are investing heavily in their official sites, employing small armies of volunteers for the Internet equivalent of leafletting.

<snip>

Video montages on the anti-Sarkozy sites -- www.sarkostique.over-blog.com for example -- show archive footage of the 2005 riots and police violence intercut with the candidate's tough remarks on law-and-order, fomenting the image of an incendiary authoritarian.
Elsewhere he is mocked as a diminutive Napoleon -- in one faked picture he stands on a box to be photographed next to US President George W. Bush -- or more sinisterly as a part-Jewish foreigner. On www.toutsaufsarkozy.com he is described as a "dwarf" and accused of being dangerously pro-Israel.
Royal is portrayed as Our Lady of the Gaffe on www.paslesroyal.com, which shows an assembly of her latest blunders -- such as praising the Chinese justice system and apparently supporting sovereignty for Quebec. It also shows her partner and Socialist leader Francois Hollande saying, "I hate the rich".

http://www.ttc.org/200702041447.l14elar00881.htm

[rocktivity]

1. They owe Miniclip.com a royalty

They had Kerry and Bush doing a dance off--complete with entourages fancy cars!

:headbang:
rocknation