Time: Why a GOP Ad Man Dreams of Electric Sheep

[steve2470]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1960405,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Republican media consultant Fred Davis III has a vision for the future of American politics, one in which building-sized rats roam the landscape, babies in strollers wear enormous brown toupees, and demon sheep feed on rolling green hills with red robot eyes. He envisions a democratic process driven by viral oddities and visual tricks, campaign ads so weird that no one can look away.

What's more, for Davis and the candidates who employ him, that future is already here. "My whole deal in life is if nobody sees it and nobody talks about it, you have wasted your money," says Davis, who is best known for creating the famous Barack Obama "Celebrity" ad as a media consultant to presidential candidate John McCain.

On Wednesday, the Hollywood-based political auteur released his latest creation, a three-minute YouTube spot attacking Republican Senate candidate Thomas Campbell on behalf of his client, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO now running in the GOP senate primary. The ad was so weird — employing montages of pigs and sheep, a robotic wolf man dressed in wool, and graphic illustration from the era of Monty Python — that it spread online like swine flu on a pig farm.

"Carly Fiorina Is An Internet Genius," declared New York magazine. "The Most Bizarre Ad In Recent Memory," blared the Huffington Post. "Demon Sheep Goes Viral," announced the Washington Post, in a front-page web headline. The tag #demonsheep quickly spiked near the top of Twitter's trending topics, and Rachel Maddow played spot on her MSNBC show, calling is "so bad no one wanted to believe it was real." Not wanting to be left out of the controversy, the third Republican candidate in the race to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, Chuck DeVore responded by launching a webpage — Demonsheep.org — which asked people to "pledge your efforts to stop these Jawa-like, Terminator-esque Demon Sheep from taking over California."

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[Jennicut]

1. This guy seriously has mental issues.

All of his ads are weird.

[supernova]

3. No such thing as bad publicity

Even if I do think the demon sheep are the product of a psychotic mind.

[Phx_Dem]

5. It appears Fiorina does as well. She paid for the very weird ad.

Which was not in the least bit scary, if that's where they were trying to go.

[On the Road]

2. Can't Argue With His Success

Bizarre images are better than the usual gross distortions in attack ads. The celebrity ads about Obama were unfuriating, but it was an effective political tack for the McCain campaign to take.

[Berry Cool]

4. I don't know if this guy's theory is so correct. He seems to think it doesn't matter how bad the ad,

so long as it gets publicity, it's good for the campaign. In fact, bad is better because it draws more attention.

I can't help but wonder at what point bad is no longer "so bad it's good" and just plain...BAD.

Or, in the case of this ad, "baa"d.

[boppers]

6. Sheer genius!

Well played.