Local ad wars

I, like many of you I'm sure, have gotten various mailings from candidates Lack, Boland, and Jacobs, among others. (though nothing from Rumler.)

And if you turn on your TV at all, you've likely caught one of Sen. Jacobs' new televison ad. Boland began running his own TV ad recently as well.

Jacobs' ad is well produced and has all the requisite pleasing images that flatter the candidate, (including the obligatory shot with kids) as ads are designed to do. It touches on a few issues that Jacobs claims he's accomplished and ends with a tight shot of Jacobs himself asking for the viewer's vote. All around a good, tight, effective spot, which when compared with Boland's more low budget TV spot, proves the axiom that you get what you pay for.

Boland's spot is not nearly as slick, and bears all the hallmarks of a locally produced effort... poorer video quality, etc. While it's not as slick, and a bit more busy with several rapid cuts to various still shots of Boland while it touches on several of his claimed accomplishments, it's not too bad.

One picture in particular is certain to grab viewer's attention, (it sure caught my eye) though I'm not sure for the reasons they'd hope. In one shot, Boland is shown reading to children dressed in a circus-like king costume as "King Reader" (correction: "Royal Reader"), according to the caption. Not sure a candidate essentially dressed as a clown is a great image, even if it purports to show his devotion to education, but perhaps I'm being too cynical.

The mailings are all standard issue campaign stuff, with Jacobs' of course showing a more expensive production.

But the recent Boland piece I found very frustrating. It was very well conceived, but horribly executed.

The folded mailer shows a picture covering the entire front half page. A pictures shows one of those ding-bells that cooks use to summon waitresses when the blue plate special is ready to take to the customer.

The bell is sitting on the corner of some platform in the left foreground, while in the large background is a few indestinct blobs. Aside from the bell, the rest of the page is so blurry, dark, and without contrast that you really can't tell what it is, and you don't bother, because it's so blurry that you don't look any further than the little ding-bell (for lack of a better term.)

The copy reads, "For more than 30 years, THIS was his workplace."

OK. At this point, I'm wondering what the hell this is about, because you have no clue it's a political mailing at this point. So I'm thinking, "What? Some guy worked as a short-order cook for over 30 years?" At least it got me curious as to what the hell it was about.

So I flipped it over to the back side. There I see a picture of some young people all looking intently at a laptop with the copy, "If you want a glimpse into the FUTURE, walk into a classroom TODAY."

Ok. Where's this going? Still no mention of Boland anywhere.

So I tear the seal to unfold the piece and the mystery was revealed.

It was a well produced and attractive two page spread explaining that Boland taught for 30 years and, "knows how important it is to have leaders committed to making sure our children receive a quality education."

The opposite inside page has more copy beside a picture of an adorable little schoolboy which lists several accomplishments Boland points to. (which like Jacobs', takes credit for securing WIU funding.)

A well done effort, aside from the utterly bewildering front picture.

And perhaps not mentioning Boland anywhere on the outer sides of the mailer was a great way to get people to actually open the damn thing.

Wonder where the ad wars will go from here?

What are your impressions of the political mailers, ads, etc. that you've seen? (and post that are blatantly written by the candidates or surrogates don't cut it. Honest comments aren't that hard to spot.)