FCINO: Sheep

This is a political ad paid for by Carly Fiorina, a businesswoman running for one of California’s Senate seats, attacking Tom Campbell.

This ad doesn’t actually make a whole lot of sense.  I mean, the voice over makes a certain amount of sense (although it definitely assumes that you already agree with it’s position), but the imagery is totally off the wall.  I have no idea where the sheep thing came from, since sheep aren’t really known for their fiscal conservatism as far as I know and no other reason for using the image was given or even really implied.  The weird flashing image changes throughout the middle worked more as a distraction, making it hard to focus on what was being said, than anything else.  They weren’t helpful at all.

The voice over at the beginning also left a lot to be desired.  It really didn’t make a whole lot of sense.  I thought I was watching an ad for something religious (and not in a good way – in a crazy cultish sort of way), not something to do with budgets.  Once it got into it’s message, it made a little more sense, but near the end it started to wander and get really confusing again.  Whoever wrote the script for this ad was clearly a fanatic about the topic, but also clearly not a great communicator.

Here’s the real problem: the ad didn’t tell me what I was supposed to be voting for.  And after not giving me something solid to remember to vote for (assuming I agreed with it), it was confusing and not very clearly memorable.  A few minutes after watching it all I remember is that the ad said Tom Campbell was bad with money… somehow?  And something about evil sheep.  That’s not a great advertising move.  I’d totally forgotten the stuff about the budget and taxes and everything within a few minutes.  I remembered the demon sheep, but I had no idea what it had to do with anything.  Nothing was well connected and too many pieces of information were presented in weird scatter-shot ways.  That’s not a great way to bring attention to your cause.  It’s a good way to get me to remember the other guy’s name.  And on voting day, if I can remember his name and not yours, chances are I’m going to vote for him unless I *really* hate him.