Around The Corner Blog

Satire and Politics...

Posted Feb 18, 2010 by Matt Bales | Comments ( 3 ) | Filed in: General, Politics, Social Media, Strategic Communications

It is clear that both parties are listening to the polls and focusing on jobs and the economy prior to the looming 2010 midterm election.  Especially, since this week marks the one-year anniversary of the “Stimulus Package” and one of the bitterest political battles in recent memory.

The Los Angeles Times sums the anniversary by saying, “one year after launching the largest federal economic stimulus program in American history, a fiercely partisan political battle continued to rage over its effectiveness even as fresh data showed the economy continuing to make a gradual, if halting recovery.”

Both parties are hoping their claims will garner support from the American people before November and have resorted to making their cases in a satirical way. 

Recent online ads from both political parties deserve some attention for their sheer satirical and pointed attacks of the other party.  Often times, political campaigns and parties forget the "punch line" in their attempts at satire in advertising, but I think both of these ads achieve their goal. 

Let me know if you think the ads are funny.

They first ad is from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that mimics the successful Google Super Bowl advertisement. 

The second ad is from the Democrats on the House Labor and Education Committee with their rendition of an iPhone commercial using the popular phrase “there’s an app for that” for their theme.

I think both parody ads highlight the claims of their respective party – so I must ask – who had the best ad?

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3 Comment(s)

  1. Posted by Larry on Feb 18, 2010
    Since I would guess most people are centrists with a bit left or a bit right and the political parties are running to the extremes in a hope to distinguish themselves, Where's the third party that would sweep the country in a landslide?
  2. Posted by Chris Sinclair on Feb 18, 2010
    Your guess is accurate about most people being centrist. Pollster, which compiles polls from across the nation and spectrum, states that 38.9% are Independents, 25.7% are Republicans, and 31.4% are Democrats.

    As far as your question concerning a third party's chances in America, please stay tuned and tomorrow we will have an article from Alastair touching on that very topic.

    Thanks for the comment!
  3. Posted by anne on Feb 18, 2010
    Great post. Love the Boondoogle ad.