Is this the right way for Labour to attack Cameron?
April 18th, 2006-
What do people think of tonight’s PPB?
This evening saw the much launch of Labour’s much hyped vehicle to attack David Cameron. If you did not see the party political broadcast you can download it here.
I’ve played it several times now and I just cannot work out whether it’s very clever and is going to have an impact or whether it’s just boring.
The central message seems to be - don’t trust this guy because he’ll say whatever those he’s speaking to want him to hear. Now who does that remind me of?
-
Effective political propaganda has to resonate with its target audience if it is to be effective. It has to pick up a truth that people will recognise and then magnify it in a form that will start to affect the way the target is perceived.
Does Dave the Chameleon do that? I’m not so sure. Whatever we are going to see a lot more of him in the coming weeks.
Mike Smithson
MessageSpace Advertising
The “Dave, the Chameleon” is funny, but I’m not sure it’ll be successful.
As a tory I found it funny but not the way Labour intended.
Labour advertising that David Cameron is trying to change the tory party while retaining its core values!
It just made me think of the “Carlsberg” ads.
“Carlsberg doesn’t do the Conservative’s PR but if it did……..”
2. the key is if voters will perceive it in the way you did or in other ways.
3. Very profound (!) although you may be making the mistake of thinking this broadcast will actually be watched by many voters. It won’t.
What is the average viewing audience for a PPB. ?
This has considerable boomerang potential, when I remember another politician who told one readership (in Sedgefield) that his favourite meal was fish and chips, while telling another readership (in Islington) that his favourite meal was something involving sun-dried tomatoes.
Potts and Kettles spring to mind.
4. is it ironic?
tell me it, so I would know if I’ve to laugh!
5 AnnaK. The figures vary dramatically depending on the preceeding and following programmes. A slot before Emmerdale might bring in upto 8 million ….. now whether they are watching ….
My sense is that the Labour campaign team have been under pressure to “do something about Cameron” and this is the (expensive?) response. It will probably cheer the activists up - but what about voters?
Looking at the polling numbers Cameron is still the great unknown - with barely half of those asked in a range of surveys having any opinion at all. Will the ad affect them?
It might. It could be in a year’s time when Dave the Chameleon has become a “brand” that people will look at it and say it was brilliant.
The risk for Labour is that it gets accused of going negative which surveys show turn voters off.
8. Cara Andrea I thought your comment was a rather obvious one, that’s all….
I would have thought that the “all things to all people” line is a very high risk strategy for an unpopular govt. The danger is that you just end up giving everyone an excuse to vote for him. Swing voters will pick up on the “talks about things that concern people” message, die hard Tories will home in on the “true to Conservative principles” message. It’s just helping Cameron to put up his big tent.
I think it shows Labour are scared of Dave. What is great is that they pick up on political stunts like riding the bike and are really negative about it. Have they forgotten 1997? Blair talks about that year so much you would think he could remember the ‘fish and chips’ comment as Richard highlights above.
I thought it was pathetic. Just a slightly different take on the feeble ‘vote for us, we’re not the Tories’ message of the GE. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
12. boswell: caro, please!
But I promise you next time I’ll try to live up your expectations and match the politically deepness of your comment @4.
So let’s get this right. Chameleron is a bad thing because he ‘is a Liberal Conservative’ and has modelled himself on Labour leader Tony Blair? So how has he modelled himself on Tony Blair? Well apparently he has no principles and is all things to all men, flavour of the month.
As Paxman might say: “Hmm Yerrrrsssss.”
Completely the wrong line of attack.
I mentioned on the previous thread the only way that I can see the pre-policy decisions Cameron being attacked successfullu and that’s by painting him as at odds with the rest of his party.
This is just meaningless to the vast majority of people. In actual fact, as others have suggested, it’s quite a sweet little thing and not rigidly dogmatic, just the message that Cameron wants to give off in the first place.
15. Scusi….
18. It’s better now….
btw, Cameron advised voters to back “any party” other than the far-right British National party in the local elections on May 4…..so is it ok to back the “closet racist” (according to him) UKIP?
19. Presumably the watered down article is preferable to the full strength one.
Has anyone got an idea of how much this cost Labour?
This was one of the worst party political broadcasts I’ve ever seen from a governing party, embarrassing and patronising.
I think many Conservative posters are making the mistake of thinking that this line of attack has been conjured up on the back of a fag packet. This PPB, like Tory ones, will have been tested before different target focus groups, NOT Tory party members, to dwell on the perceived weaknesses of Cameroon.
If TB is able to portray Cameroon as a fickle, flip flopper, not to be trusted with the economy and great matters of state, then the job will be done. As it is the most recent polling has Cameroons personal poll rating fall 13 points. He can’t allow that to happen too often in the next few months.
Jack W, it won’t work, the failure of Labour blinds attacks on the Tories, they see it only as political moenevouring by labour as the vast, vast majority don’t know what Cameron is talking about except the Green stuff.
“And tonight on Top of the Pops, its Boy George Osborne and his latest hit, ‘Cammer Chameleon’!”
24 Jaz. If that was the case then the Tories would be leading in the polls by 12 points or more. They ain’t, because Labour still has a deal of credit in the bank for its’ handling of the economy and the Tories are yet to appear a credible government in waiting and DC an alternate PM.
Tony Blair set out a different approach for the Labour Party, he genuinely changed it. As yet there is no evidence that `Dave’ is doing the same to the Tory Party. If he does change the substance and not just the language this campaign will not work. But even today DC reinforces the idea that he is not really changing his party just its’ image. Vote Blue, Go Green implies that going Green is only a matter of personal reponsibility, and not government policy - it is surely both.
Didn’t Labour abandon Socialism? They are Chameleon, so are the ‘New Labour’ Tories. Bring on the English Democrats!!
They made a valid point about David changing to Dave though didn’t they. It’s not the sort of thing that Tony, er Maggie, er Ted er…Sir Alec Douglas Home would have done.
28 francis. Now that was funny !
“Every day is like a survival
You’re my lover not my rival
“Every day is like a survival
You’re my lover not my rival”
“I’m a man without conviction
I’m a man who doesn’t know
How to sell a contradication
You come and go
You come and go”
What a shame there is no Spitting Image any more. I could see a spiffing Dave and Tony duet here.
How much do you think it cost to make.?
O/T If Ming really liked the Jag he should have kept it.
My hunch is this will stick because though naff to posters on PB.C it meets the three key criteria for an effective brand attack.
a/ it uses humour (allegedly) as a vehicle rather than a purportedly serious attack construct (eg: demon eyes)
b/ it’s based on an already growing perception that DC flip flops, and
c/ it has a simple, easy to remember tag line in “Dave the Chameleon”
Clever, very clever…..
And while we’re on a mucial theme, has Cammer Chameleon an undeclared admiration for New Order?
“Vote blue, go green - about the gills”
btw, I saw there’re “Dave, the Chameleon” cups….I want one of them!
32 AnnaK. Around £250K.
31 - I had something like that in mind, Zeb. Perhaps one of our Meeja lurkers will pick up on it
I think its is very amusing. The Labour propaganda machine is back to its best after the disastrous Fagin nonsense. I think it may very well work. I like much of what he says but am worried about what he, and his party, really stand for. Dave the Camellion points this out very obviously and slickly. DC must remember that not all media wizzs are in his corner.
Made an amusing change from the usual run of PPBs. I don’t think it’ll have a dramatic effect, but it’s too light-hearted and almost friendly to wind people up like the demon eyes poster did (though I must admit I liked that too). Intellectual viewers will I suspect tend to be sniffy about it, but it will reinforce the view of half the sample in a recent poll (IIRC) that the New Tories are really just a marketing dodge.
31, 36, 37 - Jack, you don’t fancy coming out of retirement do you?
Jacj has it about right. This thing has been researched to death with the correct target market. if you thought it was crap then you aren’t the market they were aiming it at. My guess though is that they decided to take a punt and see whether it gained any traction. If further research tells them it has then this is just the beginning. Expect the campaign to get more sophisticated as it becomes more familiar. There again if it doesn’t research well it’ll be dropped. For my taste it was too negative and gave Cameron a stature he doesn’t yet deserve. As for cost…….a fortune.
[29] But Sir Alexander Douglas-Home did just that… I think of recent Tory leaders only Herself and Hague have used their full first names.
I think the ad itself does mark a new low in political campaigning - it’s more or less saying that there’s no positive reason to vote Labour and (assuming that it has been properly “road-tested”) is simply trying to appeal to the presumed gut anti-toryism of the “floating voter” by portraying Cameron as a reptile. I liked the stretch limo, though…
42 - John Major?
Does anyone know where you can get it suitable to view on MSN media? I can’t pay the .mov file.
40 Tabman.
…More comebacks than Dean Martin … hic
Labour has the support of barely 20% of the electorate. All this talk about the support that they retain should be read in that light. Put another way, 80% of people of voting age in this country remain so unenthused by this supposed behemoth of economic glory that they can’t bring themselves to put a cross next to their name.
In most other countries labour wouldn’t have had even a sniff at power last year.
“This thing has been researched to death.”
You are assuming the researchers are very good. I imagine some research company and Focus Group somewhere said “Yeah! Ginger man at conference in Sheffield! Far out!”
In the meantime, what are the odds on Rory Bremner trying to do the Cameo Chamerelion duet?
46 ukpaul. That just means the others enjoy even worse support !!
Before I watched it online I thought it would make me laugh. I didn’t laugh at all. I thought it was well made but silly.
I thought it was entertaining - a rare vaguely diverting PPB and a successful way of dressing up a pretty vicious attack as “just a bit of fun”. It is quite a distinctively British speciality - something really brutal dressed up as light hearted banter.
Don’t know whether it will work. It is not really designed for those of us with firm political allegiances so it is hard to judge. But as has been mentioned it will have been road tested. I suppose it is the sort of thing which will provoke short conversations over a pint whereas most PPBs don’t.
I don’t like the voice (especially at the beginning)
Having worked out how to watch it I see they’ve used the Culture Club lyrics. So we can guess the age of the people who devised it
One point I would make is that I thought it was a bit too slickly animated. Personally, I would have done it in Roobarb & Custard style animation to really ham up the silly, farcical aspect which I think is there with Dave - he can be very pantomime.
If you remember the leaden footed 4x commercials that launched the campaign and compare them to the ones that are running now where almost nothing needs to be said…..well the same applies to this. The first one needed a lot of simplistic explanation because a lot of viewers knowledge of politics will be limited. The hope will be that this chameleon idea gets a life of it’s own.
New Labour = New Tory = New Liberal Democrat = Anglophobia = Sleaze = Political Correctness = Hypocracy. Bring on an English Parliament, vote English Democrats.
nice one francis. cheers for adding to the debate there.
Well done Tabman almost spot on!
But do people believe Labour anymore?.
54 - I can see the opposition guys desperate to get Hilary Benn as labour leader so they can do a ‘Mr Benn’ animation.
BTW What’s this Euston manifesto rubbish that the blogosphere is larking about with? Desperate self justification becauise Iraq’s gone pear shaped?
Hat tip to the blog that summed it up as follows -
( http://libsoc.blogspot.com/ )
1. Islamists are t*ssers.
2. Stalinists are t*ssers.
3. Most Trots are t*ssers.
4. So are most Labour leftists.
5. And most anarchists.
6. And every variety of post-modernist.
7. Sign up if you’re a leftie who agrees with these points.
Will exerpts of the ppb be available on mobile phones? If so, it could go viral very quickly. It may not be very good, but if it gets seen by enough people, even as a gimmick, then the job’s been done.
55 - I hadn’t thought of that before, Francis. I am almost totally certain the nation will rise as one and do just that rather than ignoring them as if they were a bunch of obsessive weirdos. Or perhaps not. Who can tell?
55 - Is “Hypocracy” a new form of electoral system?
Government by those who don’t do what they say they will?
If this ad was done by Trvor Beattie-known for his FCUK campaign for French connection-which seems very likely then his speciality is producing cost free ads which generate pages of editorial rather than having to pay for ads.
Labour have got two problems with attacking DC:
1) Voters see him as a “nice” man, although not necessarily competent or experienced. Attacking “nice” people is not “nice”, so attacking DC will increasingly make Labour seem the new “nasty” party.
2) DC hasn’t enunciated many (any?) policies. Attacking before he does may lead to voter fatigue. (”Oh ignore them, they’re always attacking the Tories.”)
It might well be more sensible to wait until he has actually made some commitments and then attack him.
“DC hasn’t enunciated many (any?) policies………”
Wasn’t that the point of the broadcast?
62 - would hypocracy in fact mean “rule from beneath”?
64 - But it’s clever because it doesn’t look like an “attack ad” but rather light hearted ribbing. Deceptively so, but it looks like a jolly jape nonetheless.
66 James. Well Andrea and I prefer pink hippocracy !!
62 - I think it is “hippocracy” - government by horses… (Princess Anne, Margaret Beckett…)
Jack. Did you work on Spitting image? I did a voice over with Enn Reitel because the celeb we had booked was so drunk he couldn’t do it. Enn did it better than our man could have even if he’d been sober but the client got cold feet and wouldn’t run it.
Is there a PMQs tomorrow? I find it very interesting that DC said he would end yah-boo politics, but has been very yah-booish recently.
DTC is a clever piece of work and a very well put together PEB. There are nice touches and it came across as being humerous and easy to follow. However…
1. Too many people still think: It must be Blair they are talking about
2. It does push home the Tory message of change within traditional conservative values
It was a very watchable broadcast and will run. Labour still don’t know how to deal with Dave. I’m not sure this is the answer but it is the best they could have come up with at this moment. Labour are on for a 4th May pasting so why not try out some lines of attack and see if any work? They have nothing to lose at this stage and everything to gain.
71. yes and Nick Palmer will be the first to ask a question
70 roger. Drunkeness on the “Spit” ….. shocking allegation !!
According to The Times, around 450 people applied to tories Priority List. Aroudn a quarter are women and the Priority List should include 70 women
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2140892,00.html
If the figures are true, there will be much more competition among the men and less among the women (half of the ones who apllied should make the priority list)
75 - does this mean that the next crop of new Tory MPs will be as dire as Blair’s babes?
This PPB shows New Labour hasn’t got much positive to say about itself so it has to resort to personal insults.
The snarling cynical voice used in the PPB sounded like there was joy to be had in attacking Cameron. As Once-bitten says it makes Labour look like the new nasty party.
Cameron was looking very environmentally friendly in the news reports. How is saying he is Green as well as “true blue,” going to deter voters?
To say Cameron is a man of many colours may play to his advantage.
If Labour can throw these sort of insults at political leaders, certainly people like myself will continue to reserve the right to describe Bush and Blair in unflattering terms and there is little Labour activists should be able to say about it.
More people know who Cameron is than did before.
This and Hodge talking up the BNP vote, show how absolutely desparate Labour are.
Talk of the taxpayer funding this sort of crap by financing political campaigns is an insult.
75 - does this mean that the next crop of new Tory MPs will be as dire as Blair’s b*bes?
I don’t think it will work, I don’t think the public think that way about Cameron, and I don’t think this will persaude them to think that way about Cameron…but it is oh so funny!
77. SBS, I think that if a party is making a list of the best candidatesm quotas shouldn’t be decided.
I thought the problem was that there was strong female candidates who weren’t selected for some mysterious reasons. I thought the point was to help them to get selected (if they deserve it) and not to have just a “number” of female candidates.
If so, quotas are not needed. The commitee would have put in the list the deserving female candidates. If there’re 100 deserving women, put all of them in the Priority List and if there’re just 50 good women, put just 50 in the list
Finally, I think people are too harsh with the Blair’s ba*es. There were some appaling MPs (The Venerable Helen and the Fugitive), but there’re bad male MPs too
62,66 i thought hippocracy was the way othe the modern medical profession
Cracking ppb
Dave the Chameleon is spot on, and he even helped the story along today by saying vote blue get green. A test of how good it is will be if the journos start to use it, and already on newsnight tonight they portrayed Dave on his pushbike changing colour from blue to green in response to his ridiculous climate change stunt (btw doesn’t he have access to the internet? Why go all the way to Norway to find out that it exists? There’s plenty of evidence available re climate change - just go play on the web. His trip to norway just shows what an opportunist he is.)
78. OTOH. I’ve watched it some more, and I think it may have some merit-it displays Cameron as being quite immature, and not a serious politician. IMO this may have some resonance, while the Chameleon changing colour won’t. That said, its not exactly being positive about Labour…
81 blue combined with yellow gives green - I’m a Liberal conservative.
81 - What happened to Bingo, Droopy and Snorky?
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/images_tv/bananasplits_02.jpg
On second thoughts, isn’t that the treasury team?
Hey, I thought you guys on this site are supposed to be the political sophisticates. Negative advertising doesn’t work huh? (eg posts 10, 41, 76, 82) My bottom! Of course it works, no matter how many voters tell pollsters they don’t like it. Dave the Chameleon had better decide which colour he wants to be - and stick to it - very soon else he is going to be defined by this attack. he needs to get his policy positions sorted pretty damn quick now cos Labour is on to him
Oh, and re mobile clips - yes you can get them - go to http://www.davethechameleon.com
81: Thanks for that UKPaul.
Like our host, I think it’s too early to know if the Cameron/Chameleon jibe will stick.
It rather depends on whether Cameron is able to square the circle of being a nice, fluffy guy to woo back moderate voters - while also being a tough bastard who can crack the whip in his own party to prove the Tories have changed.
Can he “sell this contradiction”? (http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com/2006/04/karma-cameron.html)
85 - All together now….
DES BROWNE
Two Banana, four banana, one banana, three
Swinging like a bunch of monkeys hanging from a tree
DAWN PRIMAROLO
Hey there everybody won’t you come along and see
How much like Banana Splits everyone can be
GORDON BROWN
Making up a mess of fun,
Making up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone
EVERYONE TOGETHER
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la”
I think this has legs. Quick, change the next tory PPB to a ‘Banana Splits’ send up!
Actually, I thought it was quite funny and light-hearted. Probably too much so to be effective as most people who bothered to take note will simply have laughed. Can’t see this having a lasting effect unless future instalments are more hard-hitting.
To the smug, lyric-quoting Lib Dems above, wouldn’t it really be something if one of other two parties actually saw you lot as enough of a thread to drop a £250,000 attack on? Now, the thought of that is really funny!
It may remind Conservatives why they dont like Cameron.
However, with cycle and helmet, it looked very eco friendly. It could strike a sympathetic chord with Vegetarians & Tree huggers, ie, traditional Labour voters.
Quite right AHM… http://www.libdems4cameron.com was a figment of our collective febrile imaginations.
It’s amazing how myths start isn’t it. Just been reading this whole thread, and am very interested by posts 6 and 13 re fish and chips / sundried toms.
I actually wrote the original Labour leaflet that included the piece about TB’s favourite food - and fish and chips (on a Friday night from a chippy in the constituency) is what he said. And it’s complete b******s to suggest that he went on to say that sun dried tomatoes was his fave food; he simply isn’t that stupid. It’s malevolent journos making things up that gullible people believe, trot out and never check, and it becomes established as fact cos no one ever bothers to challenge it. Well, Richard, you’re plain wrong.
Just a quick comment. I’m a Conservative candidate in the local elections and putting the content of the broadcast to one side, I found it clever, quirky and well put together - as you would expect from the new Labour PR machine.
I’ll have to watch it a few times (unlike the majority which is worth remembering), but I get the impression that it is somehow re-enforcing the message that the Conservatives are now a serious threat to Labour and it hints at desperation.
Ironically, this idea could have been used by the Conservatives in ‘97 with Blair !
Highlighting the core values / change message is a big mistake IMO coming as it does from ‘New Labour’. That could backfire.
I have a gut feeling that there is something about this cartoon thing that will have the reverse effect on many floating voters. It’s negative but somehow makes DC seem more likeable?
Overall, it’s fun and made me laugh… laughing with DC not at him.
91 - I’m afraid I cannot comment on your febrile imagination, Stephen, but LibDems4Cameron was something put together quite quickly to exploit a moment of weakness within Lib Dem ranks, probably on the cheap, and was not promoted in a series of PPBs. Clearly the two are not in the same league, but I do agree that both are/were good for a laugh.
91. Stephen, the maps don’t seem to be so accurate….they forgot to colour Birmingham Yardley in yellow…….uless DC’s liberal conservatives could decide which LD MPs are welcomed and which ones aren’t!
OK We have had DC giving UKIP free publicity , Hodge giving BNP free publicity , Nulab giving DC free publicity think it’s about time the Lib Dems said something about themselves and ignored the other parties .
94 - Something put together on the cheap ? Matches DC’s new policies then ?
Lib Dems? who? lol
93 - I certainly agree with that, Matt. Labour wouldn’t be devoting the kinf of money and an entire series of PPBs to attacking David Cameron over the direction he was taking the Conservative Party if they didn’t feel threatened by him. I would have been more worried had they ignored him instead.
Best of luck in your campaign.
96: Ming should have kept the Jag.
97 - Oooohh tut tut, Mark!
On the contrary, our policy commissions have not reported yet - they are being painstakingly hand-crafted. 
100 - Probably, but they do say that leadership is a sacrifice!
101. are you so sure they’ll be report at some point?
103 - Oh, in the fullness of time, Andrea. When the moment is right and at the appropriate juncture; not to put too fine a point on it!
Just watched the PPB. It is really very good, and I think it may catch the public’s imagination. There’s very little in it that is positive for Labour, which as a Liberal Democrat pleases me. It will help the Liberal Democrats if it takes off.
I don’t think it smacks of desperation. The flipflop label is already starting to stick. DC is lampooned as a figure of fun.
Btw, having now looked at the LibDems4Cameron website, I notice there appears to have been a subtle bit of editing since it first appeared.
Originally, the home-page carried the following sentence:
“Issues that once divided Conservatives from Liberal Democrats are now issues where we both agree. Our attitude to devolution and the localisation of power. Iraq. The environment. I’m a liberal Conservative.”
This now reads:
“Issues that once divided Conservatives from Liberal Democrats are now issues where we both agree. Though we were on different sides of the argument over Iraq, we all want to see democracy established, security guaranteed and our troops home. [Etc]”
Another flip-flop…?
105 - Gadzooks! As bad as that SBS? Oh dear. Oh dearie me… I suppose we might just as well quit now and go home if it’s convinced fine (Lib Dem) chaps like you!
Anyone willing to divulge honest information from their early local election returns? I have some lib dem info from Lib Dem v Tory wards in Dorset which indicate the probability of a very small swing from Lib Dem to Tory. I am very interested to know what the indications are in Nu Lab v Tory or Nu Lab v Lib Dem wards are.
All this talk of Cameron spoof I think the Lib Dems got there first with this belter of a website…
http://www.libdems4cameron.co.uk/
I don’t usually watch PPBs but, after all of the hype, I took a look at this one.
I enjoyed it, I was very amused by it, but all it ultimately did was remind me of all the reasons why I’m already so enthusiastic about David Cameron.
106 - Any mention of the 50% tax rate or LIT on the Lib Dem site now, Stephen? What’s that you say, No?? Flip Flop!!!
Now Lib Dems are accused of dirty tricks in bitter battle for Moray
What a surprise! Can it be true?
112 -
Poetic justice!
When things fall apart they have a momentum of their own. Tone can’t bridge this gap by offering a few peerages.
The European Union’s next budget is £20 billion more than Tony Blair said when he unveiled a British-brokered deal last December, a leading Brussels official has claimed.
Or put it another way, the UK rebate will be smaller still than he promised only a few short weeks ago.
Following 112. So the Lib Dems are in with a real chance in Moray???
I see Ann Treneman particularly enjoyed ‘Dave the Chameleon’…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2140893,00.html
James (53) - Don´t you mean “camp”, when talking about Cameron?
Once-Bitten (could it be Ben, original???) at 64, - I have to say that I don´t see Cameron as either competent or experienced, but neither do I see him aa “nice”.
Depend how you interpret the word “nice”, of course, but I do not see him as nice ( = pleasant) - far too many suggestions about his vile temper to be “nice” in that sense.
Taking up Andrea´s point (at 75)…..
“According to The Times, around 450 people applied to tories Priority List. Aroudn a quarter are women and the Priority List should include 70 women http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ,17129-2140892,00.html. If the figures are true, there will be much more competition among the men and less among the women (half of the ones who apllied should make the priority list)”
The interpretation is that the women candidates will be sub-standard…. umm, yes…….
I wonder how many Tory Constituency Associations will accept the imposition of a sub-standard MP…..
But then the Labour Party did…..
93. I totally agree with you Matt, I read the hype before watching the video and fully expected a very slick , funny and negative attack on David Cameron. Instead I found myself liking “Dave” as the eco friendly liberal conservative who wants to retain tory core values! I could not help laughing at a Labour broadcast which reminded me why I voted for “Dave” in the leadership campaign.
But Matt, 93, when you say:
“I have a gut feeling that there is something about this cartoon thing that will have the reverse effect on many floating voters. It’s negative but somehow makes DC seem more likeable?”
Is “likeable” enough for a future PM? You Tories were disparaging enough about Charles Kennedy (Lib Dem) using those same criteria, and then you used the same criteria to sink your own Ken Clark…. and so you ended up with Cameron (now criticised by Labour on the same grounds). Nice enough on a personal basis, but not really of Prime Ministerial quality.
I have the feeling that sometimes you don´t really know what you Tories do want……
PS. I wish you all the luck you deserve in your local government campaign - but no more…..
A few things have happened in the last few days and I wonder if they are connected.
First a Labour MP has talked-up the BNP.
I cannot think of a good reason why Hodge would hand the BNP all that good publicity. It will obviously boost the BNP vote.
Doesn’t this seem rather strange?
Hodge stated that 8 out of 10 working class families in her consituency would consider voting BNP.
Imagine what the BNP leaflets are going to say in every constituency where they are standing (not just in Barking). Maybe they will produce a Lib Dem style bar chart!
This gives the BNP the best publicity since, well since they were formed.
It gives them a fantastic launchpad for their campaign (although I hate using a word like fantastic when I am talking about a party based on bigotry).
Although Hodge was talking about her experience of knocking on doors, her statements were just prior to the release of a report by the Joseph Rowntree foundation.
There is one MP among the authors of the Rowntree report about the BNP, the Labour MP for Dagenham, neighbour to Patricia Hodge in Barking (the report focuses on those constituencies).
Conventional wisdom is that a rise in BNP will hit poorest Labour areas most.
But that is typically on a very low turnout. How many labour voters can be scared into going out to vote to keep the BNP out?
Hodge’s 8 out of 10 figure does not suggest the poorest areas only.
The Rowntree report states that the BNP have “entered the mainstream of London politics” and that there is a “strong correlation between BNP and UKIP support.”
I may not agree, but the report talks about the “interchangable”
support between BNP and UKIP.
Conditions are ripe the report claims for a “perfect storm” for the BNP.
BNP claim they are doing increasingly well in middle class Conservative areas. A look at the BNP website shows how they are trying to exploit Camerons shift to the left.
So we have BNP being promoted and given publicity by a Labour minister and a ‘Labour friendly’ independent report. It is a boost that could arguably help UKIP as well a few weeks before the local elections.
Then we have the Chameleon PPB. Is this connected with the above?
The Chameleon campaign seems to try and show that Cameron isn’t truly on the right at all, but actually a lefty, green liberal in the clothes of a right.
Do they want to point out Cameron isn’t like Tory leaders before who were often seen going on about immigration and Europe?
Or do they want to say he is, but he pretends to be a liberal green?
Either way, Labour could be to portraying a void at the far right of the Conservative party?
If so, where does this lead us?
Is it the start of a subtle campaign to help UKIP and BNP in these elections?
If so why? I ask the question, but I don’t believe the maths is on the side of Labour by boosting BNP. I have reached no conclusions yet.
Just a theory to think about.
Bad jokes, snidey voice over, digs at people who ride bicycles, negative attack, nothing about their own policies.
Yup. It’s another unfunny and innefective ad from Labour
It’s fair to say that this will be the first on many political attacks by Labour on Cameron over the next three years. What is interesting is that they have gone for a line of attack that has been shown to be effective over the long term. The republican’s attacks on Kerry as a flip flopper were ruthlessly effective in putting doubt about his potential to lead in the voters mind.
A similar strategy is clearly being used by Labour and could seriously damage Cameron if it is pushed up to polling day. Attack adverts rarely produce a reversal in a persons opinion of a politician, they merely place doubt in the voters mind about his credentials. This advert hints that in this dangerous and insecure world is a nice bloke on a bike really the man of the hour. Similar attacks have been effective in this country, just look how effective the Tories attach on Kinnock as unelectable was.
Mean while Cameron is leaving himself open to this charge by swinging in the political breeze like a piece of laundry on the wash line.
Kerry had a 30 year voting record in the Senate to be thrown back at him.
The PPB really is a good illustration of what is wrong with the Labour Party at the moment. It might look clever to the advertising fraternity. To many ordinary voters it will merely confirm the growing disillusionment with politics and the political class in general. What has it got to do with the local government elections? Voters want politicians to discuss the real issues not act as if they are still running for president of the Students Union. As a life long Labour Party member the broadcast reduced me to complete despair.I wonder how the thousands of Peugeot workers felt when they watched such rubbish aftr losing their jobs? It might be boring but politics should be about vision and principles not producing childish attacks on your political opponents. It really is about time some of the so called ‘clever little boys and girls’ who live in the rarified atmosphere of London grew up and looked at the real issues that concern ordinary men and women in this country
Moray, trouble with this is that the leaflets have gone out and people will have already reacted one way or the other. Considering the apparent mess the Conservatives have got themselves in, one might have thought the other parties could take a quieter approach, unless of course it is closer than I would have thought or expected. Nah
This ad shows more about NuLab than it does about Dave; they have nothing to say for themselves after 9 years of government and all the councils they run, but instead play the man not the ball of the opponent. As someone campaigning for the LDs in a Lab/LD marginal, this is a bit of a gift.
I think it probably will stick, as it did for Kerry. Personally I like to see someone who is able to change their mind having more experience and spoken to more people about it, most of his ‘flips’ seem to be principled and well-explained, unlike NuLab policy lurches e.g. top-up fees. I also think that DC can subtly play on this to enhance his nice-guy image.
Labour do seem to be running scared. Here’s hoping for a deserved outcome on May 5th for such a negative campaign.
128 - I sense that the LibDems are quietly hoping that they can move into second place (I don’t think they have grounds to be ‘quietly confident’though) and so this might be evidence of the gloves coming off from them.
A show of strength from them at this stage would send out messages to their prospective SNP and Labour suitors ahead of 2007 and so there is much for them to play for, even if it is not for a win.
120 If correct, then about 60% of the women, and 20% of the men can expect to make it onto the Priority List.
In response to some earlier posts on the thread: according to the Telegraph (which if the website is representative leads with the story) the PPB was made by Labour supporters and cost nothing.
I’m still unsure whether it will have much effect, and if so what. But it’s certainly getting a lot of media coverage - when was the last PPB to get so much attention? It’s criticised above as both nice (’reminds me of why I supported Cameron’) and nasty - quite hard to be both.
To respond to Welsh Goat: the problem about PPBs is that people think they’re dull and switch off. We’ve had numerous policy-focused PPBs which have sunk without trace. Obviously a sketch of this kind is no substitute for policies, but at present Labour is actually the only major party with a coherent set of policies, whether one likes them or not. Nobody has any real idea what Tory or LibDem policies will be a year from now. For instance, I gather (also in today’s Telegraph) that Tory policy on nuclear power may change from nagging us to adopt it faster to opposing it altogether, or then again it may not. But PPBs aren’t, I’m afraid, the place to explain policies in any detail. What *is* the place is one of the conundrums of modern politics, frankly - I find there’s a market for lengthy emails to 6% of the homes in my constituency, but what about the other 94%?
This ppb will go down as one of the worst in history. That a government a year into its third term does not have the confidence to campaign on its record or have anything positive to say about the challenges of local government, reviving local democracy or anything else for that matter is sympomatic of a party and a government which is literally ‘off its head’. Those who put this together probably think that they were being terribly clever and post-modern when in fact they are being naive and stupid and I am suprised elected politicians were so stupid as to let it be broadcast. Whether you are Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem or whatever there is no place in modern politics for this type of trivial pap which further undermines trust and respect for politics and a time when we should all be looking for ways to restore trust and respect. A monumental misjudgement.
Unfortunately Welsh Goat you cant nail people infront of their TV sets while politicians preach to them. If you don’t entertain in the first five to ten seconds the audience will switch off. This PPB’s one and only job was to put in the audiences mind that Dave was a flip-flopper, a leader without substance. And that could only work-as Mike says-if that tapped into a self evident truth. But If it does it could seriously undermine Cameron’s PR stunts over the next few years
Why Ann Treneman thought it low politics I just cant imagine. She must have had her head in the sand for at least 25 years!
All this broadcast shows is that Labour are rattled. The line ‘He only says things that people want to hear’ won’t have any resonance with the voters who have had to listen to Tony Blair’s bullsh*t for the last 9 years.
I believe the PPB was too subtle to have much effect on the average voter. For a government to produce that for a local election is nothing short of desperate.
For all you by election fans, I’ve been leafletting all week for the South Derbyshire ward of Swadlincote, A Labour heartland with only a majority of 277. I will let you know the result as soon as it happens.
128.”the other parties could take a quieter approach, unless of course it is closer than I would have thought or expected. Nah”
IMO if it’s close, they should even more quitier not to throw everythig away.
if you’re far out, you could try something bold because you’ve nothing to lose, while if it’s close you’ve to reflect better on what you’re doing.
Anyway, some candidates’ agents should be fired after that byelection!
133 - “This ppb will go down as one of the worst in history… A monumental misjudgement.”
Oh for goodness sake, don’t be so silly. AHM’s response is the right one from the Tory view point - take it on the chin and dismiss it as a bit lightweight and not the sort of thing to convince people. But to call it one of the worst in history and a monumental misjudgement is just ridiculous.
I think that a lot of people here forget what a rarefied political bubble those of us that post here live in. I haven’t seen the ppb, I asked my wife what she thought, and she hadn’t got a clue what I was talking about. In a London (financial) office of 25 no-one has seen it or is talking about it. I suspect that if it resonates a bit, then it will be used again and again such that it does get out into the wider conciousness. If it doesn’t it will sink without trace and 90% of the voting population will have never been aware of it. Very much wait and see in my opinion.
The key role of PPBs is not winning converts but in securing your own core base - starting with your activists.
Remember one consequence of Cameron has been renewed vigour on the ground in some areas amongst Tory activists which could have added to the demoralisation of Labour workers who have watched as membership has slumped and they have had to cope with all the cr*p over Iraq etc.
My view is this PPB will restore some faith amongst these people which might help them enthuse reluctant supporters.
So there will be a benefit to Labour.
The Tories should take heart as well because the PPB shows up Labour worries. Nobody kicks a dead dog.
The Lib Dems shopuld also welcome it because it seeks to expose where “Dave” is moving onto their territory.
Only thing is..I did not find it funny and, as a cyclist, I loathe the way they were taking the p*ss out of my chosen form of transportation.
139. it’s for local elections….their turnout is usually pretty low, if just 10% of people watch it, it’s a big proportion of the potential vote.
139 - Ah someone else who has a life and did not see the ppb LOL . Speaking personally , from what I have heard it is a bit of harmless fun but I prefer a ppb with a positive message . It seems too many are publicising their opponents too much at the moment .
Well, having slept on it, I’ll have a second bite at the cherry.
I think Nick Palmer makes a good point - how do politicians sell their policy product to people who aren’t interested in it? Not because they want a different set of policies, but because they only find politics relevant, if at all, during General Election campaigns.
I agree with the earlier point that, since Kinnock and Kerry were successfully attacked as “flip floppers” who weren’t up to the job they were seeking, it’s got to be at least worth a go from Labour’s point of view to try the same line of attack on Cameron.
One other point that I don’t think has yet been made: the original Culture Club song topped the charts in the autumn of 1983 - could this be subliminal way of reminding voters (of a certain age, albeit) of what life was like in the high summer of Thatcherism? If so, what is the effect of such a reminder?
25, 31:
You can walk my path
You can wear my shoes
Let her talk like me
And be an angel too
But maybe
You ain’t never gonna feel this way
You ain’t never gonna know me
But I know you…
Teach you now that
Things can only get better
Can only get, can only get
They get on from here
You know, I know that
Things can only get better
I sometimes lose myself in me
I lose track of time
And I can’t see the world’s formed trees
You set them alight, burning the bridges as you go
I’m too weak to fight you
I got my personal health to deal with
And you say
Walk my path
Wear my shoes
Talk like me
I’ll be an angel and
Things can only get better
Can only get better
Now I’ve found you
(That means me)
(Will you teach me now)
Things can only get better
Can only get better
Now I’ve found you
And you and you…
You… show me prejudice and greed
You show me how
I must learn to deal with this disease
I look at things now
In a different light than I did before
I found the cause
And I think that you could be my cure
And you say
Walk your path
Wear your shoes
Talk like that
I’ll be an angel too
Things can only get, can only get
Things can only get, can only get
Things can only get, can only get
Things can only get, can only get…
James wakefield……and why not Martin Parr and Daniel Meadows?
110. I love it.
“I’m a liberal Conservative- I’ve just become the leader of the wrong party… I hope, over the next weeks, months and years, that many people will join the Liberal Democrats instead of us: to build a modern Conservative Party people should probably join new Labour.”
Priceless.
Not convinced this PPB will work for Nu Lab. As alluded by others here research shows people are getting increasingly annoyed with negative campaigning, and targetting a man who’s not in government and has only been in his job for a few months acts only to promote him. Being satirised is often the mark that a politician has “made it”; Blair’s success is just as evident in the forever-running St. Albion Parish News as it is in any serious news publication.
Personally I suspect this chameleon gag has Brown’s fingerprints all over it. I have no idea why people think The Dour One is less prone to shallow spin than Blair - it wasn’t Blair who had bully-boys Whelan and Balls backing him up for years. Brown wants a piece of Dave (so to speak) and I suspect this PPB is it. After all, Blair is (we believe) not standing again, so why would he be bothered about Cameron?
“it wasn’t Blair who had bully-boys Whelan and Balls backing him up for years.”
well, there were Mandelson and Campbell
Reading through the comments, it seems to be that the balance of opinion is that this was a fun PPB and that it worked.
Not sure why Alastair is so bad tempered today- must have ben reading the polling reports from Moray…
149 made me laugh. I have also just read through the thread and drawn the complete opposite conclusion, that most post3ers here feel that the PBC was a mistake for Labour.
My view is that it’s probably as helpful to Cameron as dangerous; the lasting memory of the cartoon is that of change - the one message we are desperate to get across to the elctorate above all others is that we *are* changing.
148. Aye, but who would you rather face in an altercation - Mandy or Whelan?
151. Julian, it was alleged that Mandelson’s boyfriend once sent pictures of Whelan to a “wizard” asking him to make some spells to stop him harming Mandy!
(I hope the tabs made that up!)
This ad, as an ad, has a serious fault as did the ‘Demon Eyes’ poster, and for the same reason. The words got in the way of the message.
On the ‘Eyes’ everyone heard New Labour (they had grown up that is) and not ‘Danger’.
With this ad many people will hear Change and not ‘flip flop’. In the ‘Eyes’ poster ‘New’ was mentioned only twic