First Labour ads

The ad above is the NZ Labour Party’s first TV ad for this campaign, released yesterday. I saw storyboarding for the ad several weeks ago, but I have to say it’s even more impressive in real life. It's positive and upbeat, which is what a first campaign ad ought to be.

The party says in the YouTube description:

New Zealand should be the fairest, most decent society in the world. We’re a small nation with a lot of resources. We have a culture of working hard and looking after each other. A fair go for everyone, and putting people first.

Our vision for New Zealand is that we regain that sense of community. That we work together in the interests of everyone, instead of just playing politics.

Right now that’s not the way things are going. Labour believes we can do better.

That we can be a country in which people matter most.

Labour has a positive vision for New Zealand - a New Zealand where there are enough secure, well- paid jobs, where every family can afford a warm, dry home, and where every Kiwi kid gets the best start in life.
Together, with a Labour-led Government, we can build a nation to be proud of.

Find out more: www.labour.org.nz

The NZ National Party also began airing ads yesterday, but, sadly, they chose to go negative in their very first ad, which surprised me. Their party still hasn’t released any policy—30 days out from the election—so none was mentioned in their ad.

Labour has, of course, been releasing policy for weeks, and it’s become quite comprehensive. Labour’s commercial highlighted important core areas, areas where policies were released long ago.

I saw some political science pundits giving their approval to National’s ad over Labour’s, but that’s partly because they know that negative advertising works (up to a point). But I think that the pundits grossly underestimate New Zealand voters’ desire for forward-looking policies and the chance to Vote Positive. In fact, every time National attacks, they also reinforce our Vote Positive message by contrasting their negative message with our positive message.

Today Labour released their Te Reo Māori ad, “Vote Positive: Te Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa” (below). This isn’t merely the regular ad with Te Reo voiceover, but instead an entirely different ad that speaks not just IN Māori, but also TO Māori, their concerns and issues, many of which non-Māori New Zealanders share, of course. As far as I know, neither Labour nor National has ever produced an ad in Te Reo before—I know that National definitely hasn’t produced a separate ad, but I don’t think that Labour has, either.



The election is in 30 days. As the commercials say: Vote Positive – Party Vote Labour #ForABetterNZ

Update 23 August: Labour has posted an English version of their Te Reo ad: