Leaked Attack Ad: Education
So two people have passed me CDs with attack ads. I now have, in my possession, three attack ads blasting the Progressive Conservatives and then the Wildrose-. They’re well written, short, and made to be shared.
What I really like about this set of ads is that not only do they attack the Progressive Conservative but it knocks the Wildrose while adding the failures of the PCs to the Wildrose. It’s wonderful political maneuvering.
I really like this particular ad because it builds on a rising media storyline and that gives it a sizable amount of credibility. While this particular ad targets Stelmach, and is outdated because of it, it still hits at a core point on the PC agenda–defunding schools. Just this week school boards in Edmonton have had their funding threatened, school staff have been cut (while the province announces money for new schools), and the school board there opted to follow through with a strategy of anti-sprawl strategy of school placement. This adds onto the weakening of school boards in general, the PCs denying them funding and support while also subverting their ability to control their resources. And then the ad hammers in the point of right-wing incompetence while taking fire at the Wildrose Alliance and particularly their leader’s past pronouncements.
This is a good ad. It’s truly a shame it’s out of date, however–with Stelmach leaving and the Progressive Conservatives having their leadership race any attacks on Stelmach wont have much, if any, effect on him. It might even help a lot of PCers who are involved in the different leadership camps right now as a jumping board to separate themselves from past PC (and current Wildrose) policies.







This ad isn’t good, it’s too complicated, deals with to many issues,
it feels more like an informative PSA than an attack, take away the scary music and the ad loses it’s edge.
The imagery also makes the targets look far to animated, you make stelmach look wishy washy, and you make Danielle look like a witch, speeches from podiums don’t do either of those.
Ads need to be to the point, they need to have a clear message, and they need to resonate with the people.
This ad just doesn’t do it, it’s a good thing it never got to air.
I’m all for spin, but this is crossing a line. Has anyone actually read the Wildrose Education Policy? The accusations in this ad aren’t even remotely close to true. There is a difference between spin and LYING. This is why we liberals are currently the laughing stock of Canada’s (and particularly Alberta’s) political scene. I think we need to quit making these ridiculous and often downright untrue attack ads and muster up the courage to actually take a proactive position of our own. Rather than stand against all things not “liberal,” let’s form a real opinion for once! Truth be told, the Wildrose Education Policy is actually quite realistic and sensible… so this could be a problem for us when people read it for themselves and realize we’re the bad guys. Let’s stop pissing our credit away, shall we?
Attack ads don’t work. We need to say what WE will do to fix education, instead of ridiculous garbage ads like this. If this is the best we can do, and we don’t start showcasing some policy, then you can forget about asking me for election donations again or my volunteer time. I’m not willing to give anymore of my money or time to a futile cause. Crap like this will put PC back in power with WRA as official opposition and we’ll be wiped from the Alberta political landscape entirely. We can do much better than this. Lets show Albertans what is truly needed. Good policy and alternative ways of implementing good government. No More Attack Ad crap!!
[...] is the second ad in a set of three. The first ad was on education and this one is on the minimum wage (which is pertinent because of it being in the news [...]