I kind of hate advertising. And I especially hate the role of advertising in politics. Not because advertising is full of cheap lies that degrade even our best candidates. (Though it is, and does.) No, the far worse problem with advertising is that it occurs mostly on TV.
Purchasing TV air time is expensive. And the compromises that political campaigns must make, in order to raise the money to pay for that air time, is one of the most corrupting features of American politics today. Worse, it's a corrupting feature that tilts rights, because if political arguments are fought out through television ads, then they are fought out in an arena that, by definition, screens out voices that do not have access to serious money.
So, for me, that's the primary role of advertising in politics: it tilts the field against the pursuit of a progressive agenda. Therefore, before I rank the top 5 campaign ads, I first have to ask, aren't they all part of the problem?
And that's where, in 2008, we get to say: thank god for the internet!
Because what the internet began to do, a decade ago, for political writers -- free them from reliance on corporate-owned publishing venues -- it is now doing for filmmakers as well. And as a result, 2008 has seen a great surge of political video that is not beholden to campaign money. Which means, it does not play any role in making the campaigns beholden to their donors. If anything, it diminishes the influence of the donor class, because the ads that those donors are paying for must now compete with ads untethered to their money.
Now, a lot of these ads suck. But some of them are as good as anything out there. And what gets me especially excited is this: because they're untethered to that money, they can be a whole lot more radical.
For starters, radically more fun.
1. I Got a Crush... On Obama
Everyone has seen this ad. Some people dismissed it as a cheap laugh, or criticized it for being tawdry or sexist. Certainly it makes no effort to be respectable! But if you consider all the weird sexual baggage that this culture associates with black men, I think that what this song did -- making a white woman's infatuation with Obama feel contagious, unthreatening, and fun -- was pretty cool. I'd say it might even have played a role in defusing some of the resistance that Obama's candidacy could have provoked.
2. In A Sinking Economy
This ad went "viral" because of... what? a swear word? I think it's more than that. Sure, it's funny. But I also think this series gave voice to an unvarnished, class-conscious honesty that never gets expressed in mainstream ads. (I already diaried this series here so I'll leave it at that... but the sequels are very funny too!)
3. Approval Ratings
The ultimate in high-concept, low-tech advertising. Spare, honest, direct, and devastating.
4. The Palin Gamble
This to me feels the most amateurish of the five. And you know what? It doesn't matter. It doesn't need to be any better. It works. Even if you thought you already knew just how much you didn't want Sarah Palin to be vice-president, this ad could scare you to a whole new level. A testament to what happens when a new medium gives regular citizens the chance to make their own ads.
5. Yes We Can
Okay, the people making this video are the donor class. Still, it was such an effective, heartfelt, independent ad, and so powerful for so many people, and me too, that I can't leave it out.
Now, with the election behind us, and an enormous amount of hard work ahead of us, I have one big hope. There are an awful lot of progressive voices on a whole lot of issues that will never be heard or seen in a lobbyist-paid T.V. ad. So my hope, for these progressive filmmakers, is this: don't abandon the field. When the battle is joined over health care, or prison reform, or military spending, or financial regulation: we need those voices! we need your ads!