Also: Democracy, Poverty, Nature, Economy,
First Impression: And I thought the Tory ads had low production values…
Ad Intent: Introduce voters to May, and portray her as an “anti-politician”.
Tagline: There is no tagline! What a maverick party!
Things that Work: I’ve already said I like the train tour so it seems as good a place as any for a fireside chat commercial. And I’m sure most grade 12 English classes could figure out some sort of good political metaphor for the movement in the background.
Things that Don’t: I’m left searching for the gravol…not so much from the train movement as from the idealistic platitudes.
On the Air? Does anyone know if these are actually airing on TV? Given that I was viewer number 201 on youtube for one of the ads, I sincerely hope so.
Cliche Score: The average score for the five ads is about a 3, just for some of the gems May churns out. Among my favourites: “it’s not about the politicians, it’s about you“, “the other parties lost the thread of democracy“, and “when you talk to a single mom“.
Rating: I’m not going to go easy on the Greens and rate them on a different scale – if they want to play with the big boys, they get treated the same.
With that in mind, the issue ads don’t work, because they don’t give anyone a compelling reason to vote Green over the grits or dippers. So the economy one gets a D, poverty gets a C, and the environment gets a C – the environment one is especially disappointing because it’s a topic the Greens have the potential to hit a home run on, and instead all we get from May are aimless platitudes. The Liberals have done a much better job with their environmental ads so far, mainly because they were willing to get messy and land some punches (and they actually tell people what the Liberals are promising to do).
That said, I’m going to give the “grassroots” and “democracy” ads B grades. And that’s because they do give you a reason to vote Green – mainly, as a protest vote. The biggest chunk of Green voters aren’t voting for them because of the environment, they’re voting for them as a “none of the above” option or because they’re sick of politics as usual. So if May can introduce herself to Canadians and play on this, well, maybe some of them will take the time to go vote for her on the 14th.