That’s the intriguing story from the US, where a leading Democrat activist is encouraging people to make up their own message and then run internet ads based on it:
Every day, thousands of times over, we critique campaign messaging, debate the quality of ads, muse about targeting strategies, and suggest new lines of attack. The problem is, as Matt has often pointed out, the only help the Obama campaign wants comes in the form of campaign donations and volunteers to work on field operations. So, no one is really listening to our suggestions. We are not making a difference on messaging.
There isn’t anything wrong with donating to the Obama campaign, or in volunteering to do voter registration, phonebanking, or other forms of field work. Those are important things to do, and there is real pride and dignity to being a political volunteer. The problem is, if you feel like I do, that it just isn’t enough…
Taking the solid advice of Open Left commenter Will, rather than just complaining about this state of affairs, I decided to start running my own ads. Instead of feeling disempowered by narratives I can’t do much to change and messaging that doesn’t speak for me, now I have my own anti-McCain ads. The two ads will appear across the entire state of Pennsylvania, on about three-dozen different Google keyword searches for John McCain and Sarah Palin. It feels really good, too.
Full story, including details of how it is done, at Open Left.
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4 Comments
Excellent idea, give us a call if you want to run an ad campaign.
Does anyone know how negative ads from third parties impact on election law over here? I am sure I remember reading something about a spending limit and requirement for declaration in the rules.
PPERA 2000 limits it to £500 per constituency per campaign. Not sure how it works if different legal entities spend £500 each. Hasn’t really been tested as the law was design for the Euro referendum that never happened.
“Don’t bitch about the party’s message – run your own”
This explains what Nick has been doing with his various interviews on tax in the last week 🙂