AdWatch: Oliver's campaign gets angry in first TV spot

Type of Ad: Positive

Candidate: Doug Oliver

By: Oliver for Mayor Committee

Title: "Sick and Tired"

The Basics: There's an interesting back story to this TV ad, which is Oliver's first.  His campaign released an earlier version this week, as it was about to air on local cable channels.  Then, they pulled it, saying they wanted to "tweak it."  Tweak it they did.

The first version was a standard issue candidate talks, interspersed with shots of Oliver chatting with parents, kids, etc.  (The message was: he is in favor of education.)  This new one, which began to air today, is totally different.  The theme is the same -- education -- but the white-bread approach is gone. Funky music replaces the standard-issue soft piano and violins. It offers shots of protests, black kids marching and schools with closed signs on the front gate. The voice isn't that of a trained announcer but of an Oliver supporter named Shelia Armstrong -- and, boy is she angry.  "I am sick and tired of what's going on in our education system...." she shouts, and it's off to the races, with swipes at Oliver's opponents, anger over what is happening in the schools (with shots of Lynn Abraham, Jim Kenney and Tony Williams).  This ad was produced for the campaign by a local media guy named Khalif Blanco, whose firm is named From The Muscle Productions.  He's new to political advertising.

Crit: In the air war, the union and pro-charter SuperPACS are the jumbo jets. This ad, with a limited buy on cable, is the equivalent of a single-engine Cessna pulling a "Vote for Oliver" banner.  But, the campaign has made the most of its opportunity, with an edgy, forceful ad that allows Oliver to stake his claim for what it clearly the intended audience -- African-American voters. It captures the anger of parents and others about the continuing problems in the schools and says flat out that the old guard won't improve the situation. It's a from the heart approach likely to impress everyday voters.

Handcrafted: When you are at six percent and an unknown, you take gambles. Oliver obviously doesn't have the cash to hire the professional media firms, who can produce lovely and effective ads.  They would likely criticize this ad as amateurism.  I would counter that it is handcrafted for the YouTube world.  It is raw and real.

Is the ad factual: Yes

Overall grade: With this ad, AdWatch is switching from letter grades to a simpler Pass/Fail with comments.  The technical proficiency of the media firms was leading to too many A's. This ad gets a PASS, with praise for its creativity and the force of its message.

To contact Tom Ferrick Jr., email him at tferrick.nextmayor@gmail.com