SALON

Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010 7:35 PM UTC

A shockingly good campaign ad you’ll never see

Bill White's web-only spot is a simple yet radical departure from this cycle's torrent of nuclear personal attacks

By

Topics: 2010 Elections, War Room, Advertising, Education, Media Criticism, Rick Perry, Texas,

Adam Hanft dissects and deconstructs political advertising at Spin Season, where this originally appeared

I borrowed this headline idea from a piece by Veronica Flores-Panlagua posted in the San Antonio News, where I also discovered the sadly unviewed gem.

The web-only commercial is for Bill White, who’s challenging Governor Rick Perry of Texas. It’s about something that everyone knows is a national crisis, but has been shoved to the side this year: Education.

 

Powerful, huh? It’s a gripping yet lyrical message that reminds us why some kids drop out and others don’t. And there’s no pedantic hectoring about the importance of staying in school; it uses gently unfolding images that roll up to an emotional punch in the gut.

This spot was created and shot by Ralph Lopez and Ya’Ke, two Texas filmmakers who were asked “by the Bill White campaign to produce spots” supporting his candidacy, as Flores-Panlagua noted.

What a simple yet radical departure it is, a different species from the rest of this cycle’s torrent of nuclear personal attacks, wildly amplified rhetoric and serial distractions.

It’s actually the kind of commercial that a sophisticated marketer might create to sell a “product” – in this case, the product is the importance of parent and teacher involvement in the lives of young people. That’s because the concept is a modern and minimalist narrative that beckons viewers with a seductively unfolding story, rather than harassing them into attention. It transcends politics by activating deep emotional reservoirs. It’s the way a lot of advertising works today – it’s stylish, attitudinal, involving – it trusts the viewer to stay with it, with the implicit promise of a worthwhile pay-off.

I’ve seen hundreds of commercials this cycle, and this is the first one that addresses the national embarrassment that is our education system. Yet – putting aside immediate pocketbook issues like the economy and taxes – education consistently shows up in polls as a deep and abiding concern.

And we all know they are related. If we don’t educate our children, we can’t create and fill good jobs, we can’t be globally competitive, and we can’t grow our tax base fast enough to prevent China from continuing to own our debt – as the now famous “Chinese Professor” spot warns us of.

But out of the more than three billion – that’s billion – being spent on political advertising, I’d venture that less than one percent is being spent on messages about education. There’s a complete absence of even heavy-handed, blunt, incendiary messages. The pollsters must think that as much as we talk about it, we don’t really care deeply. (There are just over 2,000 views on the Bill White YouTube video.)

Everyone keens over the slash-and-burn attack tactics of the 2010 election cycle. But education’s no-show role in the current national conversation is the year’s enduring scandal.

Adam Hanft writes and comments frequently on politics and culture for The Daily Beast, Fast Company, Huffington Post, CNN, Fox News, Politics Daily, the Barnes & Noble Review, and elsewhere. He is founder of Hanft Projects, a strategic and brand consultancy. More Adam Hanft.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 5 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
163 points164 points | 91 comments
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
154 points155 points | 100 comments
vote
Ted Cruz against the world - How the Junior Senator is igniting the GOP civil war
77 points78 points | 21 comments
vote
Wikipedia’s anti-Pagan crusade
15 points16 points | 13 comments
vote
Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel - The 104-yr-old Anna Louise Inn has ended its 2-year legal battle with a Fortune 500 company & will now move. Many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city.
9 points10 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations