BADvertising

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Okay, semiannual semiliterate rant about negative ads.

Has somebody done some kind of study? Do these things actually work? Because over and over we get this scenario:

"Ken Buck has done this horrible thing. And Ken Buck has done that horrible thing. And Ken Buck has voted for this completely irresponsible bill. Ken Buck. Ken Buck. Ken Buck."

Presumably, this ad was posted by an opponent of Ken Buck, but they have cleverly disguised it as The Party for Righteousness and Fulfillment, or something like that.

Now...I have worked in advertising, and I have worked for a political consultant, and in both cases the clear message was: Get the product name out there. Say the product name. Say the product name at least three times, possibly more. In political advertising the product name is the candidate's name. NOT THE OPPONENT'S NAME.

Whoever is Ken Buck's opponent, I don't know. I think Ken Buck is a Republican, so I'm guessing his opponent is a Democrat, and maybe there's a Libertarian or Green party person in there somewhere, too. But whatever...I don't know THE NAME.

They are doing this completely wrong, therefore I think they are stupid. They sure don't make Ken Buck sound very good, but frankly--they sound worse. Whoever the fuck they are. (No wonder they don't want to leave a name.)

And also, Colorado had a state Do Not Call list before there was a national one, and some very large majority of Colorado phone-owners signed up for it. A large...majority. That is, most of us. Do not want. Unsolicited phone calls.

So, the politicians are exempt. Most of us don't want them to be, but they are.

You would think a good strategy here would be, hey, they don't want unsolicited phone calls, so don't call them. Especially don't call using an automated message.

Hmm, this strategy also seems to have escaped them.

I am on the Do Not Call list. When I get an automated call, the person on whose behalf that call is made automatically goes on my Do Not Vote For list.

This seems so obvious; don't annoy the people you want to vote for you; at least pretend you understand their preferences and concerns! I guess it isn't that obvious.