It’s too bad this ad didn’t start running until just before election day. It started running on several cable channels yesterday, including during the Daily Show and Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel.
Members of the grassroots group, Save Our Schools, formed in response to Furlough Fridays, appear on camera.
“We asked the governor and Lt. Governor Aiona for their help.”
The response, in unison: “They had us arrested.”
The message: “Action speaks louder than words.”
Here’s the 1-minute version. There’s also a 30-second version.
It’s a very interesting example of local, low-budget election communication. It’s also part of the wave of “issue” ads. Note that it never delivers a direct message to vote for or against either candidate, although there’s no missing the meaning of the message.
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This is very effective propaganda. It takes one perspective of an event and uses children to strikes at people’s emotions.
I credit them for their ability to advertise. But it certainly does not present an objective perspective of all the players from all sides that acted in unison to produce furlough Fridays as we knew them.
I’d prefer an honest look at events, rather than one that fits my particular political agenda. But that is probably too much to ask for in the nasty world of politics.
very cool. well done. effective.
I don’t see that this “uses children to strike at people’s emotions”
I know teachers. I happen to know some children. This FF debacle WAS a nationwide embarrassment. Hawai’i is the laughing stock of the nation because of it.
FF hurt on ALL levels, from ALL angles.
Children’s education was hurt. Politicians did evade their responsibility.
Bill’s point is that this is yet another sad example of propaganda that takes a tiny “island” look at a major, important issue. It misses the bigger picture — as if the main problem with furloughs was that people didn’t get to hang at the Gov’s office!
I agree that FFs were ridiculous and Lingle once again accomplished little when it came to education ….. but this “tiny-picture” ad is just as absurd.
It’s good street politics by a single issue group. It’s the future. Get used to it.
Lingle had been talking about doing furloughs long before the confrontation in the Governor’s office. It had been her primary strategy from the beginning and throughout negotiations with the unions. I was a state employee during the first two years of the Lingle administration and I left the state partly because of the way her administration and department heads treated employees. Everything was top down. Employees were just gofers. I am so glad there will be a new administration coming in.
nothing absurd about this kind of elucidation to educate the public.
These people simply wanted to talk to the governor, who is obligated to listen.
10 minutes of their time was all that was needed. It’s not like the group expected the administration to solve the problem on the spot. They simply wanted to be heard.
These people should be proud. Their little street theater show was the key to knocking down Lingle’s sky-high approval ratings. They accomplished in 8 weeks what all other Hawaii Democrats could not accomplish in 8 years. They are Gods.
Although I don’t think that’s correct.
Lingle’s rating were plummeting well before this whole flap.
I was just watching the spot and thinking it was pretty good, when toward the end the still photo of the Furlough Friday protest march looked familiar. It’s a shot I took at the Oct. 2009 rally! A phone call request might have been nice, but I’m happy to have helped SOS and their implied support for Neil Abercrombie.
I would NOT have liked (or allowed) my photo to be used by any group to support the appointed BOE. The way I see it, SOS worked to INCREASE parental involvement, while Hawaii’s Children First worked (and spent $500,000) to DECREASE parental involvement. The best vote money could buy.
Greg, you may be preaching to the choir. Seems like most of the posters here shared your opposition to an appointed BOE.