MoveOn.org hosted a terrific contest recently in which regular people were invited to create 30-second ads about Bush to be aired during the campaign. The point, as MoveOn explained, was to “bring new talent and new messages into the world of mainstream political advertising” by opening the process up to amateurs.
All the finalists were great spots, but the winner, made by a guy named Charlie Fisher, who works for an agency in Denver, is excellent. Go take a look at the ad; you’ll be glad you did. (Oddly enough, Fisher was a registered Republican until the end of the first Bush administration, in 1992. I’m glad he came around)
My favorite thing about the commercial is its ability to explain, in a simple and powerful way, the meaning and consequences of Bush’s record-high budget deficits. Political consultants have noted for years that voters never seem to care about deficits as a defining issue. That may be true, but maybe ads like Charlie Fisher’s can help change that.
Of course, the point of this endeavor was not to simply have a contest to see who came up with the best ad; the point was to actually show the ad to the public so people will vote against Bush in November.
MoveOn, which is running an effective fundraising campaign to get (and keep) the ad on the air, is starting with a $300,000 ad-buy on CNN that starts this weekend and runs through Jan. 21 — the day after Bush’s State of the Union address.
But since the response from MoveOn’s supporters has been so positive, the group has decided to up the ante a bit by aiming for the pinnacle of advertising: They want to broadcast the ad during the Super Bowl. If MoveOn is successful, it’ll be the first political ad ever aired during the game.
At this point, it’s unclear if that’s going to happen. First, MoveOn has not yet raised enough money to do this, but they’re getting close. Second, and more importantly, CBS, which broadcasts the game this year, hasn’t agreed to the commercial quite yet.
In fact, as Daily Kos noted yesterday, MoveOn is reportedly “negotiating with CBS” to gain airtime. Ad Age magazine explained that the negotiations may not work out.
“A spokesman for CBS said the Viacom-owned network has received the request from MoveOn to run the ad in the Super Bowl, but added that the ad has to go through standards and practices before CBS will say if it can run an advocacy ad during the game,” Ad Age reported. “The spokesman said he didn’t think it was likely that the spot would pass standards and practices.”
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any more details about this, but I really can’t imagine why the ad wouldn’t meet the network’s “standards and practices.” CBS will air sexually suggestive commercials selling alcohol, but it rejects an ad about the deficit?
I’ll let you know what happens.