Labour online ad gets points for wit, not substance

Rebecca Black has been roped into a Labour online ad. Photo / File

A new online advertisement by the Labour Party has received mixed reviews, with commentators saying its humorous moments were outweighed by the 'tryhard' factor.

The "Let's Not" animated online 'game' is a riff on the party's billboards against state asset sales, which give a readers a choice between ticking the box for selling state assets or 'let's not.'

Among topics referenced are Adam and Eve, Rebecca Black, Star Wars and the Aliens movie - albeit with a political twist as Act leader Don Brash takes the form of the alien.

There are some more graphic, edgier moments including a blood splattering punchout for calling Chuck Norris a ginga, a depiction of John Hopoate's infamous "digital tackle" and a breakout of bleeding ears at Rebecca Black's Friday song.

MPs also have a role, with some fun at the expense of Labour MP Trevor Mallard and his stoush in the lobbies with Tau Henare. The general consensus on Twitter last night was Hone Harawira confronting his daughter's "honky" suitor with a rifle was a highlight.

Otago University political science lecturer Bryce Edwards said there were some genuinely humorous parts but the overall effect was more 2001 than 2011 and it came across as "contrived and lame."

"The ratio of genuinely funny and irreverent jokes to that of 'try hard' and stupid is far too low."

He said it was an attempt by Labour to appeal to the Facebook generation of 18- to 40-year-olds and shed its image of being too political correct and authoritarian by being irreverent. He said the animated viral campaign technique was "passe" - pioneered by AMI in the early 2000s and used by the Council of Trade Unions and the Green Party in previous elections.

Voters were looking for substance from Labour and the ad was "a very superficial way of dealing with Labour's image problem."

Labour's campaign spokesman Grant Robertson said it was simply a more light-hearted prong to the party's campaign to stop asset sales. It also has an online billboard creator, letting people make up their own option to go up against "let's not."

"This is a fun and different way of getting our message across. As far as I know fun hasn't been outlawed."

He said the range of material covered was deliberately broad so there was something to entertain everybody. He liked the Aliens moment because it was a movie of his era, but had to have the true extent of the phenomenon of Rebecca Black explained to him.

Claire Robinson, a political communications commentator at Massey University, gave Labour some points for using social media.

"They're dabbling in social media and that's a braver move than National. But they're still not quite hitting their target."

She likened it to an advertisement on television that was entertaining but the viewer did not remember what the product was. "Here you're left looking at the joke but not necessarily getting the message."

It was difficult to isolate the target audience because of the mix of political in-jokes, modern pop culture references and more historic references.

Ad is at http://lets-not.co.nz/