Does it work? McCain's Dr. No ad

[thesilversiren]

Thanks to Rej (aka 5cent) who sent this my way. I think that this is going to be the first in a long line of ad critiques - where I question whether or not an ad accomplishes what the client/agency wanted.

My critique of this ad has nothing to do with my political views. Any discussion on this post should be related directly to the ad itself, not your personal political views. Thanks.

The concept: Obama is Dr. No - he says no to all sorts of things. A James Bond like theme plays, and the background is similar to the 60's openings for the Bond series.

Does it work? No. First of all, McCain is trying to have a "cool" ad, geared towards a younger demographic. This is obvious with the usage of a concept, rather than a straightforward campaign ad. Yes, James Bond is cool. But unfortunately, Dr. No was the first James Bond movie released. While it's one of the more famous ones... it's a dated reference that decreases the odds that younger generations have actually seen it.

It's never a good idea to play a snazzy theme and have exciting backgrounds while you show images of your opponent. Note that they don't actually mention McCain until the very end of the campaign. For the duration, all you get are images of Obama + neat backgrounds + fun music. If you aren't paying attention to the content of the ad itself, it seems pro-Obama. The point of television advertising is to get the viewer to walk away understanding what you're selling, even if they're barely paying attention. (Sometimes the stranger concepts work in grabbing attention, but we aren't talking about dancing lizards hawking flavored water... this is about selling a political candidate

And on a humorous note, despite the fact that Dr. No was a bad guy who tried to kill James Bond, he did have a lair, minions and a successful operation going. Say what you will, Dr. No did get things done.

I'm sure that what I wrote for the concept was how they pitched it, and it sounds just fine on paper. But the reality is that it doesn't work on any level that they intended it.

Comments

[guede-mazaka.livejournal.com]

This is a really interesting analysis. I actually ended up looking more at the text, which really popped compared to the washed-out stills of Obama, so at the end I felt more like I was remembering the text, but wasn't strongly associating the text with anybody. And I agree with you on the Dr. No datedness.

I hope you keep doing these. I'm pretty fascinated by media production and spin doctoring, in that I want to know how it works, so this was a great look at that.