Frustrated by political ads? Then make one yourself. That's what MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, invited its supporters to do last October. Since then, more than 1,000 wannabe political consultants and commercial directors have yanked the lens covers off their camcorders in an effort to unseat President Bush.
The results are now posted at MoveOn.org's Bush in 30 Seconds website. Viewers who register with the MoveOn site can cast their votes online to select 15 finalists from the 1,019 entries. MoveOn will broadcast the winner, to be chosen by a celebrity jury, in late January.
The rules were simple: Make a 30-second ad in opposition to George W. Bush and his policies. As you'd expect, the resultant videos are distinct from typical political ads, which generally are built on heavy polling and market research.
"Political ads are about as dull as can be – except when they are mean and aggressive," said Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's 22-year-old international campaigns director. "Either you have the candidate wearing a flannel shirt walking around in a barnyard talking about how he understands regular people, or you have the Willie Horton-style character-assassination ads, which people do pay attention to but which are misleading."
According to Pariser, the films at Bush in 30 Seconds represent a new form of political expression – they are "funny and poignant and hopeful" and "show up the stereotype of the angry left."
Of course, there are plenty of simple-minded ones, including some comparing the policies of the Bush administration to those of Nazi Germany. But an evening's worth of viewing is far more interesting than the average political rally.
One film poses the question: Would President Bush be a good roommate? (Answer: No, he'd leave a sink full of dirty dishes.) Another ad features a lie detector going berserk during Bush's State of the Union address. One shows CEOs squeegeeing windshields and begging for spare change. These corporate figures, the commercial suggests, are the real recipients of government welfare.
How will the public respond to a do-it-yourself ad? Veteran political ad strategist Bill Zimmerman, a consultant for MoveOn.org, has high hopes.
"What makes people cynical about political advertising is that it is usually so shrill and unimaginative, and not at all enlightening," said Zimmerman, who created advertising campaigns for Sens. Gary Hart and Tim Wirth as well as Chicago's Mayor Harold Washington.
"People tune political ads out because they don't get anything they want from them. The MoveOn ads reflect the opposite – that there is a tremendous hunger out there for political dialogue," Zimmerman said. "These are people who want to express themselves."
Not everyone is a fan of MoveOn's efforts to circumvent the well-worn channels of political discourse. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, right-wing writer David Horowitz and Ed Gillespie, head of the Republican National Committee, are among those who have publicly accused MoveOn.org of subverting campaign finance laws.
Pariser shrugs off the criticism, saying, "It's funny to see the Republican Party suddenly so concerned about campaign finance reform." He views MoveOn.org's efforts as a new exercise in grass-roots politics.
"Through the Internet, we've been able to get 1.7 million people together to speak with one voice, and we've raised $7.5 million (for this campaign) in two months, mostly in $25 checks," he said. "This is money that has the potential to do real political work."
The Bush in 30 Seconds competition also has given rise to a somewhat bizarre phenomenon – political ads as viral media. The website offers the option of e-mailing favorite films to friends.
Pariser said some of the films have been traveling quickly around the Internet. Political ads, at least these do-it-yourself ones, are suddenly hip.
Among the most popular is Child's Play (QuickTime), which shows youngsters doing menial work – vacuuming hotels, picking up garbage bags, working an assembly line – to pay off the increasing national debt.
MoveOn will post the 15 contest finalists on its website on Jan. 5. The jury, which includes such celebs as Michael Moore, Jack Black, Gus Van Sant, James Carville, Janeane Garofalo and Moby, will announce the winner Jan. 12 at a live awards ceremony in New York City.
