06.29.2015 01:44 PM

Trudeau, CPC and the ISIS footage

There has been a ton of commentary about what the ad is. There hasn’t been a lot of commentary about what it isn’t.

It isn’t:

  1. Proprietary: The CBC has tried to claim it is, but the CBC is mistaken.  There is no copyright in news.  Geist slices and dices Mother Corp., here: “The CBC is simply wrong. Its guiding principle is wrong and its attempt to use copyright to take down an offensive advertisement is wrong.”
  2. Ubiquitous: I don’t know about you, but the only place I have actually seen that ad is online.  All the stories say that – and the 45-second length of the spot makes me wonder if it can be effectively broadcast, too. There’s an excellent chance, therefore, it’s a classic political bait-and-switch – drive some critical attention to a story that is unhelpful to your opponent, but do it without spending a cent.
  3. Effective: It overstates its case.  It’s like those toxic abortion leaflets landing in mailboxes all over Canada in recent days – to make their point, they rely on horrific images of the very thing (fetuses) they profess to be concerned about (fetuses). A better design of the ad could have made the same point without using ISIS’ own imagery.

That all said, the spot reminds me of Willie Horton.  That, too, enraged the chattering classes and progressives.  But those weren’t the folks Willie Horton was aimed at – and, in the end, Willie Horton worked with the American voters the GOP were courting.

Bottom line: most of the job in politics, now, is simply getting people to pay attention.  My hunch is that the hue and cry about that CPC/ISIS/JT ad has helped to achieve the mission’s key objective: i.e., to get the electorate to pay attention in the sleepy Summer months and agree, yet again, that Justin Trudeau “just isn’t ready” to deal with the horrors that seemingly occur daily in this world.

That may make you mad.  But it’s unlikely you were ever part of the audience the CPC had in mind when they did the thing up on some staffer’s computer, for about ten bucks.

 

18 Comments

  1. Dave says:

    The “ad” has not appeared in the “wild” – i.e., in broadcast.

  2. Jnap says:

    i am sure that Lee Atwater (?? i am not sure about his last name) will be applauding in his grave. he was the ad man who popularized attack ads on behalf of the Republican party. The notorious Willy Horton ad showed a black man going through a revolving door to represent prison. isn’t it sad that we still remember that ad?
    Wk is right on.

  3. Northern PoV says:

    Our lovely new C51 law forbids the promotion of these groups. So here’s a scenario to chew on.

    Anti social loser sees this ad. He/she immediate identifies with the “exciting” ISIS images, images they have not seen before in their anti-social isolation. Does a little research and leaves for Syria (or gets a gun and heads to Parliament Hill).

    Time to charge the CONs fro breaking their own freaking laws.

    And these are the very same CONs that just facilitated a $15B weapons sale to those lovely beheaders in Saudi Arabia.

  4. ABlanas says:

    It’s a devastating clip and CPC are brilliant to jump on JT’s foolish comments. The campaign upcoming is going to be a turkey shoot for CPC against LPC on this issue. Obviously they have fresh polling that is telling them, pile on, lay it on heavy!

    And clearly, the CPC war room is holding back some kind of attack against NDP and Angry Tom. Just wait, it will come soon and will decapitate him also.

    • cgh says:

      It should be obvious by now that if the LPC or NDP had done a similar ad against the CPC using CBC footage, the silence out of Front Street would be deafening. They need a bailout badly to overcome the loss of ad revenue when they lost HNIC, and only a leftist government will give them one. And the CBC wouldn’t be squawking nearly as much if they weren’t sure this was going to be damaging.

    • Steve T says:

      This was going to be my point, too – where is the focus on the NDP? Chasing JT again seems to be a waste of CPC money. Shouldn’t they be attacking the front-runner?

  5. cantuc says:

    I don’t see how the CBC , being tax payer funded believes it owns as much as a smear on a wad of toilet paper .

  6. JH says:

    The media has some nerve complaining about this, when they’ll do anything to gain exposure and sell ads. What a bunch of poseurs.

  7. Matt from Ottawa says:

    I think its less about the “ad” itself but more about JT. I swear, everytime it seems he makes a bad decision, (in this case ISIS) and its just about to blow over, he friggin doubles down. Seriously, does this guy not understand how serious the ISIS issue is? When he tries to compare it to the original US Iraq invasion, its apples and oranges. ISIS isnt a governing body that is being overthrown, they are a very well organized and extremely sadistic group that are raping, decapitating and murdering the most vulnerable. Unfortunately the world sucks, most people get that. But that being said, we do have obligations on the world stage and these obligations require us to face and deal with some very bad things. Sitting back and trying to play the diplomacy card wont work. If anything, the bombing is almost the best option for Canadians as it mitigates ground casualties as best it can. Unfortunately, if JT want to be taken seriously in Canada and on the world stage, he first needs to understand that there are some very bad people and very bad things in the world. Trying to put on his “sunny ways” does nothing but hurt him. Just because you try to pretend everything is fine, doesnt necessarily mean so.

  8. gyor says:

    Justin Trudeau has bigger problems then this ad, MP Andrews has come out swinging against Trudeau, suggesting the report into allenged sexual harrassment summary had cleared his name, and that he’s been denied due process and his rights in this matter. Trudeau should release the report.

  9. Houland Wolfe says:

    QUOTE OF THE DAY: JT pronounces that the environment and the economy are like paddles and canoes. We are buoyed by the economy, while the environment tells us where to paddle. Brilliant! Who writes for this guy? Give them a raise. (I still won’t vote for him.)

    • UFP Ambassador says:

      So his canoe will balance itself and he’s going up the creek without a paddle? Kids’ definitely all wet.

  10. Tired Denier says:

    Justin is 100% right about troops out. WTF is the difference between a state sponsor of terrorist beheaders and a beheading terrorist state? If the NDP don’t move on this issue they are gone.

  11. Ridiculosity says:

    Using ISIS propaganda to promote CPC propaganda?

    Canada deserves so much better…

  12. Thirstan says:

    I seen the ad on tv. Not on the internet. It was out there, whether it still is or isn’t though, who knows.

  13. Sandy Crawley says:

    Herr Professor Doktor Geist is not an expert on copyright despite his grandiose claims. He’s an expert on e-commerce and often a flack for technology triumphalism . You need a better source on copyright Warren.

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