More campaign ads

As the campaign enters the final three weeks, there are bound to be more ads, and maybe ads from parties that haven’t yet advertised. At the moment, though, these are new ads from the three parties whose ads I’ve already shared, and they have one other thing in common: I haven’t seen any of them on TV, and don’t know that I will.

The ad above up top is a Labour ad for Māori voters. I haven’t seen it on TV, but it may be airing during programmes for or of interest to Māori, something I wouldn’t necessarily see. It was posted to YouTube a couple days after I the first TV ads, which I shared the same day they were posted. However, I hadn’t yet posted any other parties’ ads, and while I’m a Labour supporter, even I thought that was a bit unfair.

The ad is intended to give Māori voters a reason to choose the Labour Party and Labour candidates in the Māori Electorates, which I think it does well enough, though perhaps there could have been some longer versions, too. There could also have been a bit more energy and urgency. Still, Labour is reportedly gaining support from Māori voters, and if it wins all the Māori Electorate seats, it would meant there’d be one less potential coalition partner for the National Party, thereby increasing the chances of a change in government.

Next up, a Green Party ad, also for Māori voters:


This ad, like Labour’s, is intended to give Māori voters a reason to vote, in this case, to Party Vote Green Party. I don’t think it’s as effective as Labour’s in making an actual case for why Māori voters should choose the party, but I think the imagery and mood and feel of the ad is quite good—better in some ways than Labour’s, but it comes at the sacrifice of substance. It was posted to YouTube about four days ago, about five days after the Labour ad above was posted, so I haven’t been holding on to this one quite as long as Labour's.

Finally, the latest ad from the National Party, posted yesterday. I haven’t seen this one on TV, either:


The imagery and—thankfully—wordless music will be familiar to anyone who saw their first ad. This ad is FAR less negative than their first ad, and is intended to give voters a reason to vote for National. However, in the past few weeks, National has been promising billions in new spending, including on problems they’ve had nine long years to try to fix, but didn’t. Voters and media pundits alike have called it a “lolly scramble”, and people will wonder where the money for the promises in this ad will come from, too—what WON’T get money to make the promises happen? Can they even be trusted to follow through? It could be a cynical attempt to “buy” votes as National sinks in the polls, but since the ad hasn’t been running yet, it’s impossible to guage whether anyone will be buying what National is selling.

Meanwhile, Labour’s original ads are in heavy rotation on New Zealand television, with far less advertising from National or the Greens, and none, so far, from any minor party, nor have any minor parties posted any ads to YouTube.

This probably won’t be the last adverstising post for this election.

Disclosures: I’m a supporter of the New Zealand Labour Party, but have no position of any kind with them, nor am I in contact with party leaders. All opinions expressed are entirely my own, based on more than 40 years closely following election campaigns. In the interest of even-handedness, at the moment I’m sharing only ads that have been posted to YouTube because they’re easily accessible to anyone. I do not verify that all ads are actually broadcast, and anything I say about them being on TV is based entirely on my own experience; other people’s experiences may be different.