by Chris Bowers, Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 04:07:19 PM EST
Tags: VA-Sen, adwatch George Allen, Jim Webb, Senate 2006 (all tags)
Get rid of the noose visual, it's too much. Reiterate the Confederate Surfer thing, it's strong. Otherwise it's pretty good.
I disagree. The dude did hang a noose in his law office. The noose visual is too much? Imagine what seeing the real deal with Allen must have been like.
The could use some polish. Things I like:
- "Who hangs a noose in their law office?"
Don't use: - He apologized to an all white audience
Also liked the contrast between confederate history and MLK plus the surfer dude jab (that should hurt him on the right too).
I am surprised you are the only that caught that.
Use the noose to hang old George. Lose the white garbage.
That surfing shot is the best visual of all, dude.
Best, Terry
When I first spoke this line, it was going to be "lynching noose." We filmed it with both "lynching noose," "hanging noose," and just plain ol' "noose." It was decided that this was enough to get the point across.
Good ad. Keep the noose.
Needs to be tighter and faster.
Also could use some more visual cueues like flash frames between the people.
It could also use music or some other more creative sound editing.
The orange titles don't look very good, though that could be video compression.
All that said, I think the idea is strong. If you wanted to play that on the Daily Show in college markets, you could probably get the airtime cheap through the local cable franchise. It would have an impact.
It is sloppily edited but I thought was part of the YouTube ethos, you know, anti-slick. If they cleaned it up and dropped in music it'd look professional and maybe lose some web cred.
The noose is what bothers me. It's a roundhouse punch and it throws the whole thing off-balance. I'll repeat that the Confederate Surfer thing is a very strong, effective hit because it does double duty: he's not just a racist, he's a poseur. Hit that again. The point is not to toss in everything but the kitchen sink, but rather to hit the 'A' material.
I don't understand how the noose visual could hurt the ad's effect, as a man of color I will say it only helps. It's an honest statement about Allen, and showing an actual noose is part of telling that story.
"Too strong" is the kind of complaint about an attack that held us back the last several cycles. If we can learn anything from the Goopers, it's that the political culture has changed so that what might have seemed too strong a generation ago is straightforwardly effective today.
I agree. Unlike Kilgore's Hitler ad in VA-GOV a couple years ago, the noose charge is true, relevant, and demonstrative. Also, keep in mind that this isn't an ad agency. These kids did an awesome job.
(Non-Virginians: Kilgore's Hitler ad has been pointed to as helping him lose the race. It attacked Kaine's anti-death penalty stance by saying he'd have kept Hitler alive.)
Could you explain how the fact that he had a noose in his law office is not "'A' material"? I'm having a hard time trying to understand why you think that that should not be in the commercial.
He had a western motif in his office. He had spurs and chaps and so on. Western, not Klan. At least that's his claim.
And here's the problem: it's an easy explanation to communicate. If you're going to smear a guy in such a way that his explanation involves paragraphs of defense, then you've won. If you smear a guy and he can answer you convincingly with a single phrase, you're going to get hurt.
It's all boxing: you need to keep your balance and land your punches, not swing so hard you fall over.
This is an attack ad. The purpose of an attack ad is to demoralize the bad guy's base, demonize him to undecideds and get the good guy's own base fired up. Right? What the Democratic base gets off on is only part of the picture. The Dem base doesn't need the noose, the rest of the spot takes care of delivering their strokes.
So the point here is to depress the opposing base -- the Confederate surfer stuff is beautiful for that because it has the undeniable ring of truth -- and split off the undecideds. The undecideds are moderate by habit and react negatively to overeach. You want enough to sneak in under their radar but not so much you give them a mental sticking point where they can think, "Oh, now that's too much."
The best attack leaves the other guy babbling in an attempt to offer overlong explanations. The Confederate Surfer is that attack. The noose thing is easily handled and it'll eat up all the time in an interview setting. You leave Allen the chance to react to the noose, which he can refute, and let him off the hook on the really damaging fact: he was a California beach boy who was into the confederacy.
It's not about "acting tough," it's about hurting Allen. Short, sharp jabs are better than a roundhose he can slip.
He had a western motif in his office. He had spurs and chaps and so on. Western, not Klan. At least that's his claim. And here's the problem: it's an easy explanation to communicate. If you're going to smear a guy in such a way that his explanation involves paragraphs of defense, then you've won. If you smear a guy and he can answer you convincingly with a single phrase, you're going to get hurt. It's all boxing: you need to keep your balance and land your punches, not swing so hard you fall over. This is an attack ad. The purpose of an attack ad is to demoralize the bad guy's base, demonize him to undecideds and get the good guy's own base fired up. Right? What the Democratic base gets off on is only part of the picture. The Dem base doesn't need the noose, the rest of the spot takes care of delivering their strokes.
Powerful argument you make.
I think it is flawed. Even in the Old West, a noose was a powerful symbol that didn't just naturally go with boots and spurs and branding irons and barb wire - and revolvers for that matter.
Still you may be right that it leaves an opening for counterattack.
You win but you didn't play fair. :-)
Well, full disclosure: I didn't learn of the "western defense" until just before I wrote the above comment. I think that makes me not so much smart as lucky. But hey, I'll take what I can get.
Allen's a punk. Next to Santorum his defeat is the one most likely to cause me to do the happy dance around my living room.
Early on I thought it would be great if we could rough him up a little, leave him damaged goods for 08. Now we may actually win.
Western motif? You do know that's a crock, right?
He claimed that that noose was a lasso when he offered up that story. But were they really hanging lassos from trees in the Old West? Lots of stray cows up there in trees, were there?
I have no idea what you people are talking about! A noose says only one thing!
Allen believes in Lynch law. Period. And everybody knows it.
He can make all the bull-shit arguments he wants, like that he "invented" Macaca or that the noose was a "western theme."
That's just a lie. What sort of person has a noose in their office? That's exactly right.
If he says "it's a western theme" you say, sure it is: a lynching western theme! And that's the problem with Allen. He just doesn't get it.
They should publicize his rebuttal and make him look even worse. Because he WAS trying to make a statement with that noose. "We're going to hang-em." That was the statement. It's no different than having a confederate flag or a white hood and everybody knows it. If people want to support that, fine, the racists vote wins. But clearly there needs to be a stand taken against that.
And making it about racism plain and simple clarifies the election. Are you for it or against it? Where do you stand?
I live in Texas. I've seen literally hundreds and hundreds of "Western Motifs" in Homes, Offices, Banks, Car Dealships, Movie theaters, etc. etc. Never once seen one that included a noose.
The cut we recorded for the radio ad of the surfer line was even more sarcastic and drippy - it definitely hits the point home.
is there a link to the radio ad?
are either the radio ad or the tv ad running anywhere?
I think you can go tighter without losing your cred. There's a different between the YouTube vibe a sloppy. LonelyGirl15 being the uber example.
I agree with all they said, except I like the noose.
I would assume the orange is an homage to Kos, where Stark started all this kind of stuff.
I mean, I like having it in the ad as a backdrop.
The young woman who asks "then why did you wink and laugh..." talks too quickly for people to hear the words "wink and laugh" clearly.
But it's a good ad. Let 'er rip....
I also didn't catch the wink and laugh until my second viewing, and that was only because I'd heard about what happened before. That seems worth fixing. Without it you lose most of the power of that segment.
yeah, i missed that completely.
...I would suggest they re-do that and have her enunciate slightly more slowly and clearly so that the listener can easily catch it.
I'm another one who didn't catch that. ... I'm going to watch it again.
The noose is the thing wherein we catch the conscience of ... the voter. The confederate surfer dude bit was pretty good , too.
The noose is the thing wherein we let the viewer withdraw from the ad. It takes us out of the ad because no one believes the implication that Allen supports lynching. A good smear needs to be credible. This is where the spot goes off the rails with undecideds and starts pandering only to the most energized base voter.
If I was a Virginian I'd vote for Webb, but I'd still wince when I saw that particular segment and think it went too far. Run this by the Webb campaign I'll bet they'd say the same thing: no noose is good noose.
Totally disagree. The guy had a noose in his office. There's no debate about that.
People should wonder what it meant. They should also be uncomfortable about whatever conclusion they come to.
I thought the noose was spot on.
What do you believe to be the intended implication of the noose? Surely it must mean something, and more likely than not it is connected to some racist viewpoint. The ad does not say that Allan is pro-lynching, it's only asking why anyone in their right mind would hang a noose in their place of business. I see no problem with that.
Coupla things:
1) Not crazy about the noose.
2) As an alum of U.Va, I love the use of the University's Rotunda in the background; visually connects the message with Jeffersonian democracy; suggests that Allen is a threat to Jefferson's vision of what this country should be.
I agree that the Rotunda as a backdrop is great. May not mean a lot to people around the country, but they're not the intended audience. Virginians are.
I agree with Josh that it could use some improvement, but that the idea is strong.
I wouldn't get rid of the noose visual. I think part of this ad's purpose is to highlight all the serious questions that have been raised recently about who Allen really is, and the noose in the office, combined with Confed flag stuff is fair game on the score. I think the noose actually works pretty well with the guy's comment, though it is a bit creepy (then again, so is Allen).
I like that the message comes from young people asking questions. Allen is vulnerable on all this now and somehow it seems to work that it's young folks who are raising the questions...their relative innocence highlights his increasingly evident "guilt." It ends with "what's really in your heart?" I think that's a good question to have out there, and I think that, overall, this ad helps keep it out there.
It lacks the skillful production of the Webb ad posted today, but I think it helps the cause. I'd guess that more punch could help it go viral, but I'm too old to speculate intelligently on what young voters might pick up on.
It needs to be tighter, slicker, & hit harder. Really shame the guy.
I think it smartly connects the two damning raps on Allen: that he's a lightweight and that he's a racist. Well done, if tummy-churning.
I love this -- I like the fact that it feels rough and imperfect... it feels like it really was done by a bunch of outraged young people, not overpaid campaign consultants. If it was slicker or tighter, I suspect it would lose that sense of authenticity. Obviously it only has value if it starts to make the rounds on the web and takes on a life of its own... let's hope that happens.
I've forwarded it to some young voters (18 - 23) I know in VA -- I'll be anxious to hear what they think of it.
If it is a group of angry young voters who produced this, then it's authenticity holds. However, if this were to prove to be a product of 'big guns' -- a Swift Boat sort of thing -- then it would lose that value. Tighter message, etc., would then become more important.
SaratogaProf
I agree that if this ad is traced to some Big Bucks Consultant, it's going to backfire. OTOH, the technology is affordable for these students, and this is exactly what they should be doing with their talent. This ad doesn't need 100,000 eyeballs; if they get 10,000 hits, that's plenty.
Noose should stay. California surfer should be developed a bit more to underscore that Allen's a rich, arrogant punk.
I envy anyone in VA the chance to vote for Jim Webb; the difference between Webb and Macaca is just stunning from my West Coast perch.
Overall: the visuals are good but it could use a bit of editing. (but really only just a bit)
Maybe redo the lines to get the best takes, or something. Maybe some pauses to let the words sink in.
At first I thought it could use music, but I now I'm not so sure.
Opening title: Is orange really the best color? And it should say Republican Senator George Allen not just George Allen.
Opening line: Good opening line. It says what the target of the ad is (or should be) thinking about and sets up the rest of the ad and then the male hits it home by calling Allen a bully. Sweet.
Second: The black lady has the perfect "Oh, no you di'n't!" contempt in her voice about the pro-confederate/anti-black two-fer from Allen as governor. And, of course, it needed to be delivered by an African-American.
Third: HAHAHA. Probably the best bit. George Allen - Poseur surfer.
Fourth: Allen should be highlighted in the "White Supremacist" photo. The black woman has by far the best delivery, too.
Fifth: Seems that the noose bit is garnering the most comments. You could go even farther and show a picture of a lynched African-American. Bet that would rile people up.
Sixth: The "wink and laugh" lady talks too fast. I wouldn't have even known she said win-and-laugh if someone hadn't mentioned it above.
Ending: The ending is fine. Good bookend to the ad. Ad starts off with "I don't know about you" and ends with "I think you're a racist". Exactly what the ad wants the viewer to think.
Jason
Yep, I agree with most of these comments. If the idea is to make this into a 30 second ad, obviously some of it needs to be cut. I'd say the most ripe portion is the "wink and laugh" portion. Besides not being able to understand her, even if we could understand the words, I don't think that particular example is quite as effective as some of the others.
Another comment unrelated to those above: I noticed there was no mention of the fact that George Allen is ashamed of the fact that his mother was part-Jewish, or his football teammate claiming he did in fact use the n-word. Obviously these are recent stories so maybe they just didn't make the cut due to the ad being made before it all happened.
1. What happened to the update on the Senate races that was coming yesterday?
2. Over at the Iowa Electronic Markets, a $1.00 contract for "Republicans lose House" has been slipping in price for a week, bottoming around 34 cents but today it has rebounded to around 37 cents. These NIE/Iraq issues are strating to resonate with election "investors".
Powerful! Seeing young voters speaking out will be very inspiring! I have tears of joy to know the youth in our country gets it and is willing to go out for change. Bravo.
I'm not in advertising or marketing so I wont comment on what should be quicker or slower in this advertisement. However as a Virginia who is beyond disgusted with Senator Felix Macaca, all I can say is the more information that gets out to the voting public about what a little creep this bastard is the better. Having the words come from college aged kids is a good move. Old anti-war activists like me from the Vietnam era have our minds already made up. "Kids" are the key to getting Macaca moved back to California where he belongs. So, good on ya, developers of this ad. The more the merrier.
I 100% love it. Allen had a noose; the noose belongs in the ad. The voters talk like voters, not actors. The surfing point is great - I'd forgotten he grew up on the Pacific.
Love the noose
Me too. I was upset when Russert read about the noose and the flag but then only asked about the flag.
Noose is good.
The problem with the ad is that the speakers are bad actors/ readers. It doesn't appear genuine.
It's tough to walk the fine line between actor/reader and truly concerned citizen - we don't seem like good actors/readers because we're not :-)
Don't use the term "all-white audience" in an ad that ought to appel both to minority Virginians and moderate whites.
It's not because I personally think it's racially offensive, but because a lot of whites will take it that way. Why? While Virginia has made a lot of progress on racial issues, and is not the white-supremacist wonderland that some have tried to portray it as, there is still a lot of underlying resentment among moderate whites toward allegations of racism.
Implying in anyway that whites are participating in a racist act is going to piss off a lot of people because they're sensitive about it. I don't reccomend doing that--it's just going to make things problematic for Webb with a lot of "righteous white man" coverage.
Note that I am NOT defending said attitudes, only reflecting upon their reality.
It's the psychology of it; by saying "to an all-white audience" it implies that the audience is implicated in Allen's acts. Maybe that particular all-white audience is, but it's not a far leap to "all white people." The sentiment is there, I understand what's trying to be said, but it can't be said without stepping on somebody's toes in an ad that's under a minute. Better to cut it then to waste time trying to "diplomatically" say it.
Leave the noose. It's true. If there were any reasonable question of whether or not it was true, then it might be sensational. But my understanding is that there is no meaningful dispute of fact regarding the noose; it becomes fair game.
Cut the whole apology-to-all-white-audience thing.
Orange letters on white background? I'm not hating on the orange, I'm hating the white background.
Hit the confederate surfer stuff more if possible. "Why were you sporting confederate flags as a high schooler in southern cal?"
And I'd LOVE to see the deer head show up in the next ad. Just make it a question: "And did you really cut off the head of a deer and leave it in a black family's mailbox?" Make the bastard deny it. (And then hopefully find that black family and get em to come forward!)
good ad, good project.
Many good points by others, but I'd reinforce the fact that Allen should be explicitly identied as a Republican in the opening. No way will that identity help him at all.
The noose has people going both ways. I think the noose would be stronger and convey the message better if it were paired with the confederate flag--"you hung a confederate flag and a noose in your office; those are a horrible pair of symbols to most young Virginians" (and I'd include 'young' just to get voters thinking about whether they wanted to be seen as 'old Virginia' or 'new Virginia?'
Definitely 'wink and nod' and the all white audience are important, but 'wink and nod' has to be understood--and I didn't get it until viewing number 3.
T.J.
My initial reaction was drop the all-white audience line. Also that there were too many cuts from speaker to speaker. Use maybe half that many. And I completely missed the wink and laugh line, to the point I was stunned to read about it in the comments.
Overall plenty of potential with this ad. I would expand on the California surfer line, maybe including the ages he lived in California. He didn't move to Virginian until age 19, or whatever. I think he attended UCLA for a year after high school then transferred to Virginia.
There was a lynching in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981, so it's not ancient history. The victim was a teenager. The men responsible were members of the United Klans of America, who had selected Robert Shelton as their Imperial Wizard in 1961. Allen knew enough about this man's position in the Klan to infamously nickname his college friend and football teammate, Dr Ken Shelton, "Wizard."
Why does it end on the statement: '...before we an talk about my support we need to talk about race.'?
This was confusing and weak. Just call the guy what he is a racist.
That's what he is.
Tell the voters that.
If the ad is trying to reach moderate young Virginians, calling him a racist outright will alienate your intended audience... you're trying to separate your audience from Allen, not bring the "closer together." If the ad is trying to reach the MyDD and DKos crowd, by all means, call him a racist directly, it'll have the desired effect. But that word makes people uncomfortable, and even when it zings by you to attack the person proverbially behind you, it still makes you flinch too.
Whether or not people should be forced to be uncomfortable with racism (they should be) is a discussion for a critical race theory seminar, not an election campaign.
Here's the thing--are they using young people to appeal to young voters? Because they look and sound like dorks.
Or are they trying to appeal to all voters? Because "the youth voice" concept isn't a winner with older people.
So choose one: make the speakers age diverse, or let the kids wear t-shirts and speak like themselves.
Also, the messages are right on, but the production value is booty. Boo-tee.
if anything a couple bars of music might be ok ... a quick fix on the wink and nod would be in order ... otherwise i would keep the ad as is.
i particularly liked the noose segment ... reached out and grabbed this viewer. don't edit that out for any reason!
and what is wrong with keeping it "not overly polished" ... college students are never overly produced are they?
good job!!!!
Well what do you mean by Viral? That term gets thrown around a lot w/r/t reaching young voters.
If you mean is this thing gonna get 100,000+ hits on YouTube, I doubt it.
I have to agree with Josh and Joe. The timing is all off. This ad is way too slow to really appeal to a young audience. It felt like one of the longest 53 seconds ever. Cut it back to 30sec and make the cuts a lot quicker.
They also need to be slicker. Cutting while people are speaking and moving their position on the screen in mid-sentence is disruptive And it doesn't help that it looks like it was filmed against a budget green screen.
The messages are right on, but I don't identify with a single one of these people. They're not really speaking in my language, even if what they are saying is the right message. There's no personal connection.
I'll add one more thing. Another reason this probably won't go viral is that the cat is already out of the bag on this. The damage has already been done among young voters in the campaign when the original "macaca" comments circulated on YouTube.
It's already gone viral and lightning isn't likely to strike twice.
I think "viral" is too much to hope for, this is "old news" in internet terms.
I don't think it's impossible to see it spread. Not expecting a re-edit, but I'll give you my thoughts:
* The noose image should be a picture of HIS noose in HIS office. Connect it back to him. * Same with the Confederate flag. There are photos of HIS flag on HIS shelves.
I want to say I really like the "honest, what's up?" tone of the ad. But where you could make it hit home instead of a generic noose would be a lynching postcard. The generic noose you show COULD be a legitimate legal hanging. On the other hand, if it's a mob, a tree, and a kid on a rope ...
And in keeping with the tone, just show that for a flash and say "Don't you know what the noose means to some Americans?" or something better than my wording. Again, puts it back on him.
The other thing I would do is play up California. Show his cowboy boots, play some "Wipe Out". Don't let him get away with the "Western theme" because again, he's from URBAN CALIFORNIA. Good grief, if Republicans can make being from California a liability when they've sent Nixon and Reagan to the White House, we should be able to get some Virginians hackles up.
thinks it's way too wordy, too disjointed, and throws in too many ideas, so has no punch. The whole surfer-flag thing is the only thing worth saving in the ad, and it should be the focus - the kid's quizzical look was cute and convincing, as well as his youthful tone of voice. Cut the sucker down to just the one idea.
I like it. Like the noose. Love the surfer.
This is a late comment and I hope it gets noticed. I think this is fairly effective, but it speaks to the wrong crowd. Most college kids in VA today probably already get it, and they usually don't vote any way.
I think a much more powerful ad would use Virginians age 40-70, mostly white, some declared Republicans saying "Welcome to the real Virginia Senator Allen, racism isn't Virginia and we don't want a racist leader." This message would speak to the demographic far more likely to be Allen voters.
I am a staunch Jim Webb supporter and busted my ass to help him win the primary.
However...this ad is LAME.
It has way too many cut-aways; it's not coherent; the people talking appear to be bad actors. The ad looks busy.
Perhaps you could have one person in all the frames with a rainbow of young adults in the background, and for the last frame, in one voice they make the final and condemning statement.
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