Labour ad. Would it work for Fianna Fail?

See it here.  The actor is Sean Pertwee, whose father used to be Doctor Who. The voiceover is by David Tennant, who used to be Doctor Who. They should have stuck a few (blue) daleks in as well.  The tone is interesting, and one that might work for Fianna Fail. Calm and measured. Not promising the world, not ranting about the opposition, just mature.    

5 thoughts on “Labour ad. Would it work for Fianna Fail?

  1. Jason, I shudder to think what the FG ad would be like. I suspect it would involve ponderous music, a worthy voice over, panning over new construction then new unfinished construction before fading to black and white video of people milling about the streets, and a giant face laughing in the sky “Where are your FF friends now?” Cut to jaunty music and a beach scene with lobster people in sunglasses clinking glasses.

    Cue Eye of the Tiger and cut to a leprechaun on a treadmill, with Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton and Leo Varadkar in sweatpants urging on the leprechaun as it does a circuit of the gym machinery. “We’ll soon have you back in shape. And all the international markets will want your goodies again”

    Finish with “FG we’ll do what’s right and necessary. And you’ll hate us for it. You don’t deserve us but we’re all you’ve got now.”

  2. You might like to take a look at a “leaked” first draft of this ad. In the early version, Pertwee tells a subtly different story.

    Sean Pertwee – dressed like an off-duty David Cameron – is standing at the top of a hill in Yorkshire, looking in a windswept way at the long road ahead. He starts to walk and talk: “My old Dad, Jon Pertwee, of Dr. Who and Worzel Gummidge fame, he used to say: at least you know where you are with Gordon Brown. And those were wise wise words, dad. It’s true, you might not like Gordon Brown, or want him coming round to visit you and behaving awkwardly in your front room, telling you about the work of change and how he came from an ordinary middle class background and likes to watch the X-factor. No, he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s true, you know where you are with Gordon Brown. Where are you? You are in a hole.”

    Picture of giant hole. Pertwee, walking past hole: “But who do you think really knows best how to get you out of that hole? Is it the inexperienced young Conservative who has never got his hands dirtydigging holes? No, of course not. You want an expert in hole-digging, someone who has been digging holes for years. Gordon Brown got you into this hole and there’s a fair chance he’ll know how to get you out of it.”

    Pertwee walks on. “But not that long ago, things did get pretty frightening in the economy. Banks started to collapse and a great recession began. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. This wasn’t supposed to happen, what with boom and bust having been abolished. It’s a good point, but oh look… what’s that over there? (Points out lovely view of Yorkshire countryside).

    Pertwee arrives at a fork in the road and stops walking: “Sadly, there are people who want to change course, to turn back or even go off down there. (He nods at the other road on which George Osborne and Boris Johnson look-alikes driving a “Chelsea tractor” 4×4 have got stuck in the mud. It is raining. The car is surrounded by an angry mob of voters. It is being rocked from side to side.) Or we can continue our journey on the road to recovery. (He starts to walk forward, purposefully, towards the sunlight.) Come on, walk with me along this road, even if you don’t like Gordon Brown much. Come this way… really, honestly, it’s going to be ok…”

    Distracted by talking to the camera, Pertwee fails to notice the large warning sign and proceeds to walk off a cliff.

    (H/T WSJ -Iain Martin)

  3. How about a satellite view of Earth, zooming down through the clouds to Ireland then to Dublin then to a street then a room with a microscope closing in on an atom, followed by the statement.

    “These are all the things Fine Gael would have done differently in the last ten years.”

  4. I think the FF one would feature loads of people living it up in a wild 1980s style party complete with shoulder pads, coke, raucous open mouthed laughter and some semi naked people bathing in cash then cutting to people walking out of Lehman Bros, boxes full of the content of their desks with a superimposed arrow saying “See it was their fault!”

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