Monday, February 28, 2011

No Canadian seniors for NDP ad?

Getting into trouble with stock photos in political advertising is not new; it seems they just never learn. The latest offender is the NDP with the new ad campaign they launched today.

In a scene where they're talking about seniors issues and family care (family care? there's a good idea) they show Jack Layton with a senior and his family. Unfortunately it seems no Canadian seniors were available, so they turned to stock photography from a Danish photographer.

Here's a scene from the NDP ad:


I guess the NDP couldn't find any Canadian seniors to put in their ad, but at least they're helping seniors, even if it is in Denmark.

Of coure, these are the same guys that, with their 2007 pre-writ ad campaign, hired a UK company to run the online video component.

UPDATED TO ADD: To my NDP friends who tut-tut the questioning of imagery in political ads, such short memories. You may recall your own party launched a web site and newsletter campaign in 2006 to mock the imagery in Liberal campaign ads. Called "Average Canadian or Liberal Insider" they attacked the Liberal for "not being able to find average Canadians for their ads" because they used Liberal Party members talking about Canada, and only identified them by name.

But that obsessing over ad imagery, complete with an interactive web site and graphics, no less, is completely different, I'm sure.

Somehow.

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12 comments:

JimBobby said...

I'm curious (in a completely non-partisan way) as to how you found the istockphoto image. Presumably, it was embedded in the video and not identified in the html or metadata of the page or elements of the page.

Insider leak? Google image search?

leftdog said...

'Gotcha'! .. except now you have condemned Iggy Inc. to ongoing scrutiny of all Lib photos used (past, present and future).

Grow up.

Robert McClelland said...

This is as grown up as libfloggers ever get, leftdog.

D said...

Jeff this is horribly petty.

Isn't it enough to come out with a rebuttal reminding the blogosphere that the Liberal Party is the only party in parliament with a plan for families in need of support when a health crisis strikes?

Moreover, is this how Liberals parry the "Not a Canadian" attacks on Ignatieff -- by saying how "un-Canadian" the images of NDP ads are?

This post isn't clever strategy, it's poor form.

Unknown said...

Here's the thing: they're using a traditional agency and are wasting dollars on traditional media, making mistakes like this as they go along.

It's no surprise they have issues like this.

Möbius said...

Nice to see you're on the case, Deputy Dog.

Incredibly embarrassing, and petty of you.

And I'm not even an NDP supporter.

Jeff said...

I'm not accusing them of a capital crime, but it is a rather bad idea to buy stock photos of foreigners to depict "average Canadians" in your political advertising. It's not like you're selling soap here.

And for my NDP friends who tut-tut the questioning of imagery in political ads, such short memories. You may recall your own party launched a web site and newsletter campaign in 2006 to mock the imagery in Liberal campaign ads. Called "Average Canadian or Liberal Insider" they attacked the Liberal for "not being able to find average Canadians for their ads" because they used Liberal Party members talking about Canada, and only identified them by name.

But that obsessing over ad imagery, complete with an interactive web site and graphics, is completely different, I'm sure.

Yawn.

Joergen Geerds said...

Yes, this post is a complete joke... if anything, the ad shows frugal use of the campaign money, since the istockphoto certainly wasn't expensive.

WhigWag said...

And in Jeff's defense, the Libs also got roasted last fall for including a photo with someone holding a cigarette in their new pamphlet about the family health care plan.

And the CBC mocked the NDP on P&P yesterday for including the same guy complaining about the HST in both the Ontario & BC ads (twins?).

Details like that can matter if they distract from the message & make the party look amateurish.

And isn't the NDP the pro-Made-In-Canada party? Why farm out it's comm. products to the lowest bidder?

DL said...

Apparently the Liberals have used stock photos from Utah in their commercial on farm policy. Any comments on that?

Jeff said...

First line of the post for those that missed it:

Getting into trouble with stock photos in political advertising is not new; it seems they just never learn.

Möbius said...

You obviously thought enough of the dramatic impact of this silly factoid that you did a bit of research. This is what frightens me most about political partisans. Every nuance must be examined.