Two pieces of advertising have struck me in the last 24 hours:
1. That Stephen Harper TV spot that has him sitting in front of a fire, extolling the virtues of his very cordial (thank you very much) working relationship he has with the two young fellows who happen to be his and his wife’s children.
2. On the back of a black Volkswagen Jetta on the DVP this morning: “Septicdesign.ca — Where all your fecal dreams come true”
One of these ads is an effective, catchy, memorable piece of marketing, and the other is full of … well, y’know.
Zing!
Stephen Harper is a Family Man™, and wants everyone to know it. Evidently, the fact that he enjoys playing cards with his kids means he is more than capable of running a government. And because they’ve shot him in some vaguely soft focus and put him in a sweater vest with that creepy, vacant, farthest-from-warm-you’ve-ever-seen smile, the Canadian people can Trust™ him. Honest and for serious.
I’d embed it, or link to it on Youtube or something, but a) I don’t care to see it again and/or have it posted on my site, and b) I’m sure you’ll come across it sooner or later, or can hunt it down yourselves if you’re really desperate.
The most disheartening thing about it is that people do fall for it. It’s one thing if you genuinely believe in conservative principles, and use them to guide yourself into a life of good, in some way, which many people I know have. I don’t happen to share these principles, but I can respect those who believe in something and put it to good use in their life.
What scares the absolute living hell out of me is the swaths of people who believe in nothing in particular, have no pressing thoughts on a direction or path for their country, and who make their voting decisions based on which candidate makes them ‘feel better’. I’m sick of hearing the polling question: “Which candidate would you want to have at a barbeque?”, and I’m terrified that people make their vote based on it. I want a Prime Minister who is too busy RUNNING THE COUNTRY to come to my damn barbeque.
Essentially, I’m astonished that the Conservatives are trying to run this campaign on Stephen Harper’s personality. Yeah, people don’t think a hell of a lot of Stephane Dion, but < Bluth>come on< /Bluth>. This is either brilliant or the second-most firetruckin’ crazy piece of personality-based campaigning I’ve seen in the past two weeks.
“He’s a family man, so I know he shares my values…” I don’t know, I know a lot of people with families I don’t agree with. Yeah, I hate that ad too. And on the bbq front, like Jon Stewart said about Barack Obama, “I’d like my president to be one of the smarter people in the country!”