A little digression

Not on my planned posts for the week, but I came across this parody of the Google Ad: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ_klXDGeQk&feature=player_embedded]

This ad might be the first political parody of the ad, but it won't be the last.  I've said before it's hard for me to seperate the message from the execution in ads like these.  I try my best, and I hope I'm able to point to good executions even if I disagree with the message (see my post on the Inhofe ad which I thought was brilliant, even though he seems like a real SOB).

So the Google ad is in the news, and it makes sense to parody it for politics, riding on the coattails of something that's already in the public consciousness.  I can't decide if the "Boondoggle" is cute or too cute, but alright let's agree that it works..., more or less.

My issue with the ad, and the reason I think it's not good parody, is they miss the essence of the Google ad -- they steal the form in terms of the "look" of the ad, but they forgot the story part of the form. The google ad tells a story, it engages the viewer in that story, it resonates emotionally,  and it accomplishes this simply and elegantly.  This commercial is just random attacks on Democrats and their policies, jumping around from health care to some vague charge of waste or influence.  There's nothing holding the ad together, it's like a flaky pastry that falls apart in your hands when you try to take a bite.

I frankly got bored half way through, and I would question if the ad would be effective on anyone but people who are already inclined to believe it.

What if they tried to tell a story?  Maybe it's a person looking for work, they could do some of they same things, show the unemployment rate, the "ineffectualness" of the stimulus, etc. They would have to leave out some of the more specific attacks, but maybe not, but if they do it's not a bad thing.  Emotional connection and resonance are far more important then any specific attack in my opinion. If they told that story, I think this ad would hit and not just with true believers, but with people who maybe are in the middle, people who would feel their anger and frustration, their fear and worry reflected back at them.  If they told that story with this parody, well then they'd be cooking with gas.