National's campaign TV ad was launched today and has drawn loads of comments on Twitter. Naturally I wanted to see the ad for myself so I tried to find a link and managed to on Fairfax NZ's Stuff.co.nz website. I endured the painful ad.
The ad starts with an opening sequence of John Key and some young man on the right hand side. The young man, played by former Shortland Street actor Jacob Tomuri. It's not completely obvious but the image of John Key is supposed to be one of credibility while the one of the young man (who represents Labour and the other parties) is disheveled and a trouble maker.
Meanwhile in the background there is a team of rowers rowing and in the background Eminem's Lose Yourself. For those who've been living under a rock the last decade Lose Yourself was released in 2003 by Eminem who is a white rapper.
Why National, a right wing conservative party would use an outdated song is beyond me, and why they would try to merge popular culture into the political process is absolutely trashy. There is a voice over in the ad telling people that although it won't be easy they'll keep the books under control and manage the economy more effectively than Labour. That may be true but that's not at all the message conveyed in this ad. The message that actually comes across is that of a party who is desperate for votes and doesn't understand popular culture.
But what's most disturbing about this ad is that it's using popular culture to try and win votes and that's just wrong. The two shouldn't be together. Popular culture is always changing and evolving. Popular culture changes on a regular basis and is shallow. Do we really think that politics should be shallow too? Given the reaction to the book Dirty Politics (which I'm yet to read) it would appear that way.
It's lucky I, unlike most voters don't vote based on political advertising and make up my mind months in advance because if I did vote on advertising then this ad will actually lose votes (so maybe Lose Yourself is fitting). That's another thing, National is winning in the polls, why would you use a song titled "Lose Yourself"? Talk about subliminal messaging in the ad.
This ad is terrible and whoever approved it should be sacked.
NB: I'm still voting Act for the party vote and National for my electorate, I decided that months ago.
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