One company suggesting that it is better than its competitors is endemic to advertising. At their most successful, these ads are humourous and effective. Consider the Pepsi television commercial where a little boy buys a Coke from a vending machine. In goes the coin, out comes the can. He sets the drink on the ground, inserts another coin, pushes the “Coca-Cola” button again, and receives another Coke. He puts it on the ground next to the first, and steps on top of them. Reaching up, he presses the “Pepsi” button at the top of the machine, and out comes the glorious beverage. He takes his prize and walks away, leaving the first two cans in the dust. Quite amusing, and the point is not lost on anyone: a Pepsi is a whole lot better than a Coke.
Ads like this are deemed humourous and effective when they’re about soft drinks or fast food joints, but they take on a whole new dimension when directed at political parties. In the political world, commercials like these are known as attack ads. They amount to one candidate saying, “You just can’t trust that other guy. If you elect him/her you are DOOMED. Vote for me, because I’m your last chance.” This strategy involves singling out previous mistakes made by the opponent, not only pointing out flaws in political strategy, but also generally making them look incompetent and dangerously under-qualified.
This strategy is currently being used by the federal Tories against Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. The Conservatives have launched a campaign against Dion, claiming that the Liberals will return the GST to seven per cent if they win the next election. True, Dion has been vague on the GST issue. In the usual manner of coy politicians, he’s not promising anything either way. However, the Conservatives would have the populace believe with this new wave of hostile advertisements that Dion has said his party would definitely raise the GST. They illustrate this point in one of their commercials with a typically unflattering picture of Dion, and by repeatedly playing an out-ofcontext sound bite of the Liberal leader.
Attack ads are the wrong way for a party to promote itself. Pointing out all the flaws in the other candidate can make a party sound like it has nothing good to say about itself. When politicians get nervous, they say “And what’s so great about you? You’ve screwed up at this and that, and oh yeah, that other thing too, right?” Instead of trying to push voters away from the opponent with negative advertising, why can’t our leaders try attracting us with positive observations or effective policies?
Political parties only resort to attack advertising when they’re out of ideas. People only focus on the negative when the positive isn’t consequential enough or is non-existent. In politics, I want a positive leader, not the lesser of two evils.
