And they're ... meh.
Well, okay, this one is fine, even the ground it covers seems awfully familiar by now:
Donald Trump’s priorities? They’re dangerous. And we’re ready to take him on with our latest ads. →https://t.co/R6x4ztmm1j
— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) May 17, 2016
On Maddow's show, Guy Cecil of Priorities USA said it was a misconception that everyone knows Trump and knows all the terrible things politics junkies know about him. According to focus groups, he says, a lot of people who are familiar with Trump's name don't know a lot about him. I guess I can believe that. Many people tune out political news or just don't have time for it. So maybe this ad will be an introduction to Trump for these voters. If so, it's not bad.
But I'm not sure about this one:
We’re launching ads this week in OH, VA, FL, & NV. First look (& share!) here:https://t.co/frMVrR13Dw
— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) May 17, 2016
It's jarring, as it's meant to be. But I find it creepy to watch these ordinary people (who are meant to be us) lip-syncing Trump's words as if they mean them. It's true that they don't seem to be luxuriating in contempt for women the way Trump does, but they don't seem repulsed by the words either. It's especially unsettling when the man with the young girl repeats Trump's leering words about his own daughter. I want him to squirm as he mouths those words, and he doesn't.
What I want is something like this ad, made a while back by a right-wing anti-Trump super PAC (it didn't work, obviously, but that's because it was aimed at Republican voters, who think sexism is beneficial because it's "politically incorrect"):
Also compare the lip-sync ad to this clip, in which men read harassing tweets sent to female sports reporters, and eventually recoil from what they're reading:
The Priorities USA lip-sync ad never gets to that point. So I just don't think it works. But maybe I'm wrong about it and it'll strike a nerve.
Here's an ad idea I'm throwing out for free: How about adult women (and men) watching as Trump's words are lip-synced by children watching them on TV, especially boys? Would that be unsettling? Would that scare people about the likely state of the country during a Trump presidency?
Republicans always go for the jugular and the heart.
ReplyDeleteLiberals go for the brain.
That's not as effective as spewing hatred, fear, and bigotry.
The Dem's have never topped their "Daisy" ad from '64.
The GOP has more effective ads in nearly every election - minus "The Demon Sheep," and a few other fiasco's!
That was the first ads of a $130 Million ad buy. I am sure there will be ads that will force Trump to go off the deep end and go nuts in the MSM.
ReplyDeleteI believe that is why Paul Ryan. heartless but not stupid, is waiting for. Trump to become unhinged over a little slight. "I just cant endorse someone that unstable". His personal ambitions will prevent him from being seen as endorsing a potential disaster for the GOP.
Tom Ridge felt that today as did Mark Cuban.
From your lips to the FSM ears:
ReplyDeleteI think today is quite a good day for the Democrats. Why? Because it shows how easy it was for Priorities USA, the pro-Hillary SuperPac (originally a pro-Obama SuperPac), to hurt Trump with a very focused strike on his immense vulnerability with women. But more than that, they clearly got under his skin. Trump's been on Twitter raging non-stop all morning about how he was "misquoted" in the Priorities attack ad. I discussed whether he was 'misquoted' here. Basically he wasn't. But, Good Lord buddy, good luck with whining about a SuperPac being mean.
Trump and Trump's campaign know that he's toxic to women for numerous reasons. And getting hit on this gets him mad, mad and undisciplined. No one likes a whiner.
I suspect that SuperPacs in Hillary's orbit, seeing this, will run more ads which are a bit unfair, which push the margins, just to get inside Donald's head like this.
Note that everyone and I mean everyone in Trump's entourage, even his official 'supporters' who show up on the cable networks calls him "Mr Trump". Who else gets referred to like that? Someone who demands that kind of fealty and subservience doesn't do well with any criticism. It also undermines his core political strength, dominance politics.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/they-got-his-number
It looks as if they were inspired by the #MoreThanMean ad and chickened out, doesn't it? Or didn't understand what made it effective. That's kind of pathetic.
ReplyDeleteBut Ernest could be right, it's early.
ReplyDeleteIf they're looking to show it on regular TV as opposed to the Internet, it can't be TOO blunt or edgy or the local stations, cable networks, etc. won't run it. This may be why the punch was pulled.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/05/26/the-magic-of-donald-trump/
ReplyDeleteMagic? Danger?
The sexism is a great attack angle but why stop there. There's a ton of scary policy positions that Trump has taken. Let the fun begin.
ReplyDeleteI think the lipsynch ads provide the added point that what Trump is doing would be unacceptable in civilized normal discourse. By having his foul words come out of average likable people with little or no adverse reaction, its a jarring (to me) reminder of just how low acceptable discourse is sinking. Hopefully most people still don't accept this kind of talk at home or with people we value and respect. At least for now. The t-shirt with his ugly face is graphically necessary IMO, to remove any doubt about who is really doing the talking. The biggest problem I think is with the distortion in the Trump voice track. It's hard to recognize at first as him.
ReplyDelete