Tory ad freebies

I'm with Paul Wells on this one, actually, in that we in the media should be a little bit vigilant about watching where the new Conservative ad campaign is paid or "earned" media, as they call it in the PR biz.

In plain language, that latter one is  called "free advertising" — what you get when the news media does repeated stories about your ads. You get all kinds of air time on the national airwaves and in major newspapers, i.e., the Sun, without having to pay a dime.

That said, I'd be remiss if I didn't paint the scene of lunch hour today in sweltering Ottawa. (And, to be fair, it's in line with the young Liberals' Cadman-tape stunt of a  couple of months ago.)

Young Conservatives, clad in bright yellow T-shirts are all over the streets around Parliament, handing out yellow postcards with the hapless picture of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and the blaring words: "Dion's Tax on Everything... Will You Be Tricked into Paying More?"

Some observations:

1. It's not the most environmentally friendly campaign — an hour into it and I saw the little cards littered all over the ground like cigarette butts.
2. It's a tough crowd out there. I saw one young Conservative press the card into the palm of a former adviser to Dion. This Liberal fellow stared at the card and then barked: "How unbelievably crass!"
3. Part of the campaign included sending out mass emails yesterday from someone called "Stéphane." I got one myself, as did my colleagues here. It says:

Hi Susan,

Stéphane wanted to tell you...

Having trouble setting priorities? Friends don't know what they speak about? Billions of dollars of spending promises got you in a big debt hole? Well don't worry. If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is an answer. A permanent new tax on everything!

I'm just wondering — can someone complain about tape doctoring one day and then put out emails in someone else's name the next?

Comments

[Mike]

Please -- PLEASE let the next election be soon. Oh, and there has to be a box allowing me to vote for "None of the above". That's not too friggin' much to ask, is it? (*sob*)

[Robin]

Predictable Tory propaganda from a party unfit and incapable of governing without toxic partisanship. These vitriloic and misleading 'ads' should make every Canadian nauseous because the Harperoid thinks that Canadians are not intelligent enough to discern fact from fiction. DUMP HARPER!!!

[Catherine Wilkie]

Our media cheer-leaded these guys into office. So deal. Or, complain. Either way, Harper says 'jump' and you folks 'jump.'

[John W]

You guys on Parliament Hill are going to have your hands full in the next election which promises to be the dirtiest we've seen in decades, since Dief Pearson? Exposing the truth and being seen as fair at the same time won't be easy since being truthful about these guys isn't going to look fair. That's if the media can even hope to keep up with the bag of misleading tricks and distortions these guys have in their arsenal.

[Sandi]

Portraying someone else "illegal"?

Apparently their gas station ads are illegal (see Kady O'Mally).

If these are staffers in yellow shirts handing out stupid, silly cards - who pays for their time - taxpayer?

Will someone in the press find out something other than Liberal gossip please.

[Jeff Stokes]

Still not as bad as the "guns in the streets" ad the Liberals got free air play over thanks to the media.

[Matt]

If you look around the website and go to the referral section, it allows you to enter your name and email address and refer it to your friends, rather than automatically using Stéphane.

[Gerry Nicholls]

Clearly the whole point of this Tory ad campaign is to define the "carbon tax" before the Liberals can.

And it will likely work.

As for the media giving the Tory ads free attention, well that's what it's all about from a communication strategy.

It was certainly my strategy when I worked for the National Citizens Coalition -- showcase a TV news conference, then play it once at three o'clock in the morning in the Yukon territory.

Will the media now be vigilant about if these ads really appear?

Who cares?

By that time the story is over.

[my opinion]

Considering how much free "advertising" and exposure the Liberals get in the Toronto Star, I don't think the media talking about Tory ads is too much. It balances things very nicely.

[Ian]

If it is not news then do not report it!
It would appear that the Liberals and there supporters are unwilling to recognize that the lessons they taught the Conservatives while they were in power have been well learned.
So says grasshopper.

[Jim]

Perhaps you Ottawa sophistos find it crass and beneath you, but it is effective and convincing to the rest of us. What I find crass is an opposition that wails and moans over everything but fails to show up and vote when there is an opportunity to bring this govt down.

[Bob]

I think it's friggin' HILARIOUS!!!

Behind every joke there is a truth, and it probably wouldn't annoy the morally bankrupt grits so much and the roiling cloud of big government 'mosquitoes' buzzing around their heads looking for fresh and ever newer sources of taxpayer's "blood", if there wasn't traction with average voting Canadians!

[George Pringle]

Well, perhaps the media should not play any Party's ads for free. At least in case of the Conservatives, they are paying to broadcast these and their other ads.

The media has reported on Liberal ads that they've never broadcast and never intended to broadcast and made solely to be free advertising.

Go ahead ban them all.

[Kellie]

The Liberal plan is a tax grab and I feel sorry for the yokels who can't see that. If carbon taxes were so important, why did Dion not implement them when he was the environment minister? The answer....because they would have been the death knell for the Liberal government.

This is akin to the NEP that Socialist Trudeau foisted on Alberta to save Ont. and Quebec.

Harper's anti-Dion ads must be working as the Left really has their knickers in a knot this time.

Wish Dion would put his money where his mouth is and vote down one of Harper's non-confidence bills. But, we all know that Dion really is a pathetically weak man. We don't need ads to tell us what we already know!

[Dante]

"I'm with Paul Wells on this one, actually, in that we in the media should be a little bit vigilant about watching where the new Conservative ad campaign is paid or "earned" media, as they call it in the PR biz."

Question: why should Susan Delacourt be taken seriously as a journalist after publicly musing that she thinks reporting the news is bad if it might help a political party she doesn't like?

Hey Susan: do your damn job and report the news, unfiltered and unbiased. Let the voters worry about who they want to support. They're smart enough to make up their minds themselves, without your oh-so disdainful sniffing.

[Dante]

Also, if you're looking for news to report, why don't you go write about the HRC case against Macleans in BC and how it's threatening free speech and the rights of Journalists to report the news in Canada? Andrew Coyne's doing it, and he's a way better journalist than you.

[Crazymamma]

Hmmmmm, the worst you can come up with is it isn't a "Green Campain", litter..... in our streets...... seriously..... We aren't allowed to make this kind of stuff up.

[Neil]

Oh well……. The children will soon be out of school, err House of Commons for the summer holidays. The last few days got all the children excited, especially with the good weather so perhaps this childish behavior with the silly pictures is just part of the excitement.

[Ken]

Ms Delacourt, First thing first, Congrats on having the blog to get feed back on your stories and others. Second, I personally thing it was a very smart political move. Mr. Dion was silly to float this trial balloon with out fleshing it out. Third, They the CPC will now frame the issue and the LPC will be on the defensive before they even unroll the details. Fourth, I am dying for someone to tell me the last time the govt did anything revenue neutral, maybe you can help me out with that one.

[Fiumara]

My, my how the Press Gallery whines and moans when the Tories do something that the Liberals have done for years. Now that they are as sophisticated as the Liberals and with a much better leader (who patterns himself after The Little Shyster from Shawinigan) the press goes into a frenzy.

Maybe they should learn to be unbiased in their reporting. Then they can see how well off we are with the PM we have now versus the whimp in waiting.