mccain's "we're number 2, we try harder" gambit or why the paris-obama-britney threesome should just be a fantasy

this tv spot by mccain reminds me of many things, a couple of which are - the threesome fantasy with paris and britney. and that makes me hate obama. oh, wait a minute, it didn't really happen, they just appeared in the same ad. oh, well, i hate him just the same.

another thing is this ad campaign by avis many years ago that became some kind of a textbook discussion in the ad industry where avis, being the 2nd largest brand in the market had the ad campaign that was based on "Avis, we're number 2, we try harder" selling line.

in some ways that is what the mccain tv spot does - mccain admits his opponent is hugely popular. like what the article below says, obama is not just a celebrity, he is a rock star in politics

going through this route is asking the audience to go through a long and round about way to get them to conclude this rockstar is not as good as he actually is. aside from it's a round about process, the dangers one faces in trekking through a long route is what most of us fall into - we can get lost and not reach the destination at all.

in my mind, it's simple - why put a powerful and strong thought into the ad, that of obama being a rockstar, then spend the rest of the ad to remove it or discredit it? why not dispense with the first half and just go straight into the last half?

that wasn't the first time that mistake was made in this ad.

the second time was the threesome reference to paris and britney. and the tragedy of it is that it happened at the beginning of the ad.

paris and britney appeared in the ad just a few seconds, 2 to 3 seconds for both of them and yet that is what most of us remember. the press and tv certainly remember that part very well, it's played up and written about in all reports on the matter. in other words, britney and paris' 3 second inclusion in the ad became the issue, not the rest of the 27 seconds of the ad.

it's a tragedy that it happened in the first third of the ad because my guess is most people who watched it got so shocked by their inclusion into a political ad, that the brains stopped processing anything that was said or shown in the ad after seeing their two faces. who wouldn't? a threesome with paris and britney will make hearts stop pumping blood or pump more blood, depending on the gender of who owns the heart.

the point is - you get so confused, so disoriented that you miss the whole message of the ad.

look, a threesome in any ad will get my vote, but not in this kind of threesome. and as mccain, a non-entity to obama's rockstar status, will know, trying harder in this way just might get him in the number 2 spot during the election in november.

i don't think the inclusion of paris and britney in the ad added anything or made a single contribution to the sale. all it did was put a polarizing element in the ad.

there is a third point here, one of irony. with this mccain ad, the presidential election in the US just became real ugly and the irony of it is, it was ushered in by two beautiful faces of hollywood. makes you wonder - maybe perhaps that is the reason why mccain is number 2?!


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The celebrity backers of Barack Obama say they are not like Paris and Britney.
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:04 PM PDT, July 31, 2008

TO HOLLYWOOD it smacked of desperation.That's why the reaction to a new John McCain ad attempting to portray Barack Obama as a kind of mindless celebrity -- likening him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears -- drew collective yawns and shrugs of irritation from politically active members of the entertainment industry.

"I didn't think McCain could look silly," mused Norman Lear. "But that ad diminishes him and makes him look silly."Just for a start, industry types say the ad is wrong: In the Hollywood lexicon, Obama is not a celebrity. He's a rock star. (Note to McCain strategists: That's the difference between Jessica Simpson and Bono.)

Then there's the small inconvenience that Paris' parents, Rick and Kathleen Hilton, are supporters of McCain's Republican presidential bid. According to federal campaign records, they gave the maximum $4,600.No word on their plans for the general election, but this much is certain: Their daughter has never paid to attend an Obama campaign fundraiser. (It's unclear whether she's even met the senator, or whether she's even registered to vote. The same goes for Spears.)


read the whole article here :
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-et-cause1-2008aug01,0,4172463.story