Political Posters - Lib Dems, Labour and Tory - Part 3

• The Tories - "Clumsy Brown"

The Tories proudly launched this one with the announcement of NI reduction. Two giant boots about to crush the first shoots of recovery by taxing jobs, yet another tax on those who have been prudent, unlike Gordon Brown, as he stumps on the first signs of hope we've seen in months and months.

More doom and gloom from the Tories, who would have thought it. Pushing this angle seems to be about making Labour look like the tax raisers. A good tactic, as no one wants to pay more tax, in that respect it gets their message across.

• The Tories - "I took everything from you voter"
  

One of a series of smug smiling Gordon posters, were he states he took your pensions, caused record youth unemployment, doubled national debt and increased the gap between rich and poor. Thanks Gordon, that will look great on your CV.

I like these posters, very direct, non apologetic and to the point. Great way to use a political poster.

• Lib Dems - "The atomic bomb of tax"

This poster looks familiar. Parodying posters can work well if drawing parallels. The original poster was from the 1992 general election, an interesting link being made there. Given Major was trying to get elected in the context of a bitter recession brought on by a housing bubble and burdened by an unpopular predecessor, some would say evil predecessor. Labour, led by Neil Kinnock, was largely back in the mainstream, after being in the wilderness for years and were doing well in the polls, until the "we're alright" incident. Of course unless you are a political geek, this isn't what will spring to mind, "duck and cover" will be the lingering thought as you throw your self to the ground.

This just feels like the Lib Dems jumping on the negative bandwagon. It also feels lazy. The poster isn't iconic enough to really make the link and it goes against the grain of the message they're carving out below.

• Lib Dems - "Labservative"

This is a quirky animation and an interesting line from the Lib Dems. Labour and Tories are one and the same, even branding them "Labservative", which though a bit gimmicky, is a good way of expressing this point easily. It also turns the tables on the comment echoed frequently, that a vote for Lib Dems is a wasted vote, by saying you are wasting your vote for the status quo. I like it very much, a strong message well conveyed.

• Labour - "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky"

Labour did an on-line campaign for supporters to come up with a poster, dubbing it the "peoples poster". Which was a great idea to get their core voters involved and utilised the internet. Though it ended up very partisan, and an own goal when the Tories started tic for tac. As the chosen poster isn't very strong, it doesn't make Cameron look bad. It's like dressing him as Adam Ant and saying, "don't take us back to the 80s". Though their are some that would get on their knees and pray that 80s music doesn't make a come back, along with poodle perms. Most would remiss with watering eyes, while raising their arms in the air one at a time, humming "prince charming, prince charming". A wasted opportunity and we do have to be-careful of copyright, don't we Gordon?

Poltical Posters Dog Tax and BA - Part 2

Having not been impressed with the political posters so far, I'm glad to see at last an interesting one. Based of course on those really annoying Churchill insurance adverts and Labours dog pat down which was announced, then retracted while doing a U-Turn, since people couldn't quite work out how taxing dog owners keeps people safe.

It's a good poster, makes a link with Brown's taxing love affair, portrays him as something annoying and is witty. Best use so far of a political poster.

Did they tell you about party funding situation? Ironically the poster was probably funded by Lord Ashcoft.

You Can't Get the Commies These Days

North Korea have launched on state TV their first beer advert. From watching it there is a nice attention to detail, the beer appears within a mushroom cloud and the sound effects are like missiles shooting skywards.


Update: In a curious twist to this, it turns out the "Pride of Pyongyang" is made using a brewery the North Koreans brought from the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge.

BNP Party Political Broadcast - Will They Gain?

The BNP's party political broadcast was so bad it was just funny, it reminded me of across between direct line and lawyers for you. They even had a red phone.

Have you been hurt by a politician, thinking about not voting, well we here at BNP we pledge to clean up politics.....

The more serious side to this is, fringe parties do stand to gain from the expense saga. With the BNP being the biggest protest vote to make, how much do they stand to benefit? To date their gains are in Labour heartlands. The Guardian have an article asking what people from Tory and Labour constituencies think about the expense saga, Labour areas were a lot more angry. I particularly like the quote from Clara Clutterbuck in Salford – Hazel Blears's constituency.

She tells you what you want to hear, like Blair. Or shall we put it crudely and say she's an arselicker?

I think the cruder statement works for me. Yet with how angry people are the BNP will look an appealing vote, add to that other parties saying not to vote for them, doubly so. UKIP stand to take the more moderate protest and legitimate Euro sceptic votes. With nationalist parties in Wales and Scotland benefiting in Labours falling support. BNP winning a seat in the EU I'm not so sure about, airing our dirty washing in public may put people off, yet locally is a different matter.

Take Courage

For 50 years the slogan “Take Courage” as been used to promote the ale. Yet the brewers new campaign has pushed 3 people to far, complaining that they "believed the poster implied that the beer would give the man confidence to either make negative comments on the woman’s appearance or take advantage of her." The advertising watchdog has banned the posters.

Would the 3 people that complained, in future before assuming everyone has their personal hang ups look up the word "humour".

My Drive Thru - Music Video

One a lighter note, this is brilliant music video for "My Drive Thru" by Santogold, Julian Casablancas, and N.E.R.D. made for Converse.

Advert For Sci Fi Channel

I stumbled across a really novel advertising campaign for the Sci Fi Channel (See more)

Adverts on Internet Movie Data Base

I've been posting on IMDB's message boards intermittently for about three years. I went to their site today and found they've added adverts to every post, this is in addition to pop up browser advertising, and adverts in the frames of their site. Which begs the question just how much advertising does one web site need?

The information IMDB has in relation to this new addition says:

IMDb has partnered with a number of third-party advertisers to present sponsored links that are relevant to the pages you are reading. When you click on these sponsored links they take you to other third-party web sites where you can get more information.

Interesting since I'm getting an advert for - The Cure for Bad Breath - on a post about Richard Dawkins.

Halifax Howard

In the new advert for Halifax what's happened to the all singing and dancing Howard? Thrown aside like a dirty dishcloth that's what, handed his notice while the sound of "Money's Too Tight Too Mention" softly played in the background. Who could of foreseen the credit crisis reaching heights like this.

Here he is in all his glory, lest we forget.