By Nathanael
In response to a National party attack advertisement that targeted Government policy (which the National party had to pay to have disseminated), the Green party launched an online attack ad that targeted Simon Bridges personally.
Green party members then, righteous beings that they are, declared that they were “shocked”, so the Green party pulled the ad after Lord knows how many people shared it and watched it.
TVNZ then decided that this was the number one story in New Zealand and the world and made it the lead story (so that even those who drift off shortly after headlines would see it), and broadcast the entire ad! (Along with righteous commentary from Green leaders).
As a result, a cheap little internet ad now gets viewed by everyone who watches TV1 news.
The cynic in me thinks that this was a political donation-in-kind to the Greens. You literally can’t buy this sort of advertising, since they don’t sell the 1-minute-past-6 slot. It will have been seen by people like me who switch off or skip the ads. That timeslot is premium viewing time. I have no idea how much advertising at that time would be worth but we can rest assured that it would not come cheap had the Green party actually paid for it.
A friend told me that it was No. 1 on the TV3 6 pm news as well, which further reinforces my belief that this was a transparent example of shameless collaboration between the Green party and a state broadcaster.
Imagine if National or ACT had created an ad making fun of Jacinda Ardern’s accent and then pulled the ad in the same circumstances. Do you think that TV1 or 3 would have broadcast the full ad that made fun of her?
Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign plastic straws (selling at US$1.50) have sold out.
Now that is how you do a political ad that isn’t a direct personal attack and that makes people laugh while also making a relevant policy point.
