Australian Time Warp

This ad is from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and kind of sums up some of the headline issues in the election. Now the ALP is a bit too conservative for me, but at least they’re not the Liberal/National Coalition once headed by the defeated John Howard (he’s the skeleton in the coffin at the start).

In the 2005 New Zealand elections, the New Zealand National Party tried a cartoon ad campaign that was really lame. The ALP commercial is much better (though you do have know about Australian political issues for it to make sense). Sometimes a bit of pointed fun can get a point across better than an ad that’s dour and intense, something I wish the New Zealand Labour Party would learn.

At any rate, this gives me the opportunity to share one of my favourite things: Political advertising, electoral advertising in particular.

Update 13/08/10: The video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Richard O'Brien, better know as Riff Raff, the author of the Rocky Horror Show (where the Time Warp song comes from). I'm disappointed, but not surprised in an age where copyright trumps all. Still, the first time I saw the video you can't see, I wondered if they'd secured the right to use the song. Apparently not, which is just sloppy.