The Green Party of Canada pulled a “cheeky” bait-and-switch today with the launch of a new television campaign that puts political attack ads in the cross hairs.
Green Leader Elizabeth May has long been critical of attack ads, calling the practice “undemocratic,” but her party announced last week it was launching its own volley of negative ads. This morning, however, rather than slinging mud at specific political opponents, the Greens went after nasty political ads themselves.
The new ad, called “Change the Channel,” shows a selection of negative ads from previous campaigns while a male voiceover says “Tired of the name calling, smear campaigns, mud slinging? Are you disgusted with the state of Canadian politics? This does not represent our Canada.”
“It was cheeky,” May told Marketing. “We didn’t want to be misleading. We figured a lot of folks would figure it out.”
With a limited television media buy on CBC, CTV and TVA, the party is hoping supporters push the ad through social media–in particular on Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff’s Facebook pages. (At press time, the video was not visible on either page.)
The creative idea was conceived internally, but executed by Integrated Media, which also handled the media buy.
May said the party is ready with policy- and issue-focused advertising should an election come this spring. However, there are currently no further plans for pre-election marketing.
In a statement, the Green Party said they intend to make “negative politics” a campaign issue, linking the practice to low voter turnout.
