Coming soon to a TV near you: Your congressman shooting something
Who knew that when West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin ran an ad in 2010 that featured him shooting a hole in the congressional cap and trade bill he would spark a trend of shooting firearms in political TV commercials?
In Oklahoma, congressional candidate Rob Wallace (D) recently released an ad featuring video of him shooting a map of the state of Texas pegged to the back of a water jug. The ad, of course, was about a water dispute between the two states.
And this week, Arizona congressional candidate Ron Gould (R) is up with his own ad in which he shoots President Obama’s health care bill as if it were a clay pigeon. (Really.) Gould adds the extra-satisfying — if you oppose Obamacare — image of the bill exploding in mid-air.
A look at the original from Manchin shows just how similar the new ads are to his original.
Now, we should emphasize here that it’s hardly unusual for a media consultant to borrow a (successful) idea from another campaign. Instances of candidates running incredibly similar ads are too many to count, and there are so many set-pieces in the media consultant world (diners, kitchen tables, showcasing the candidate’s mom or family) that a truly novel idea seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
In fact, Manchin isn’t even the first candidate to shoot a gun in his ad.
But in Manchin’s case, he seems to be spawning a wholly new brand of ads in which the main message is: “I’m so tough on XYZ, I’ll shoot it with a gun (and by the way, I like guns too).”
Given there were two copycats in the span of one week at the start of the 2012 ad wars, expect to see more where these came from.
- Spam
- Obscene
- Duplicate
Blog Contributors
Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.
Juliet Eilperin
Juliet Eilperin covers the White House for the Washington Post. She served as the Post's House of Representatives reporter from 1998-2004, covering the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and five national congressional campaigns. Since 2004 she has been one of the country’s leading reporters covering the environment, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including climate change, oceans, and air quality. She is the author of two books, "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives," and "Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks." Follow her on Twitter.
Ed O’Keefe
Ed O’Keefe covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post. He previously covered the 2008 and 2012 campaigns and reported on federal agencies and federal employees as author of The Federal Eye blog. Follow Ed on Twitter.
Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake covers national politics at the Washington Post, where he writes regularly for “The Fix,” the Post’s top political blog. A Minnesota native and summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, Aaron has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Aaron and his wife, Danielle, live in Annandale, Va. Follow him on Twitter.
Sean Sullivan
Sean Sullivan covers national politics for “The Fix.” Prior to joining the Washington Post in the summer of 2012, Sean was the editor of Hotline On Call, National Journal Hotline’s politics blog. He has also worked for NHK Japan Public Broadcasting and ABC News. Sean is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a degree in Philosophy. He lives in Washington, D.C. Follow Sean on Twitter.
Scott Clement
Scott Clement is a survey research analyst for Capital Insight, the independent polling group of Washington Post Media. Scott specializes in public opinion about politics, election campaigns and public policy. He helps design and analyze all Washington Post polls, including the Washington Post-ABC News poll. Follow Scott on Twitter.
Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers national politics for Post Politics and The Fix. She came to the Washington Post in 2010 as a political web editor and anchored the Post's 2012 election blog. She was previously a web editor at The Huffington Post. Follow her on Twitter.
Latest Tweets
The center cannot hold. RT @jimbradysp: David Ortiz stole a base tonight. This means, somewhere, a comet is hurtling toward Earth.
Yes, it is possible that Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment right. (from @eilperin) http://t.co/a1gusXTE7h
RT @washingtonpost: Paul Ryan is writing a book http://t.co/AWHsxsNl2R
Loading...
Comments