Not quite beyond parody

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, October 27th, 2011 - 18 comments
Categories: election 2011, humour, national - Tags:

Does anyone have a copy of National’s real TV ad? I hear it’s weird and doesn’t really say anything, just kind of blandly asserts that the party that has borrowed $38 billion in three years and has achieved zero growth is better than the one that oversaw record growth and paid down debt to zero (and it doesn’t feature Key! What will Clare Robinson say?)

In the meantime, check out this parody.

In completely unrelated news, I’m sure, the IRB has decided to claim copyright over Youtube vids of Key’s three-way handshake. Funny how they haven’t bothered with all the other videos of the RWC on Youtube, just that one moment. Good luck to them stopping it though, there seems to be a new copy every few hours.

And here’s some more honest billboards.

18 comments on “Not quite beyond parody ”

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  1. Ianupnorth 1
    27 October 2011 at 10:54 am

    Excellent; interesting comment on breakfast TV about the Nat ad looking like the road to nowhere, and, the path looking very dark.
     
    Never buying a Feelers record again!

    • just saying 1.1
      27 October 2011 at 1:03 pm

      I noticed the mutual back-scratching there too. I think the Feelers may live to regret their decision. This might not be the sort of exposure that will enhance their image with their target audience.

      Love the first one.

      • felix 1.1.1
        28 October 2011 at 10:28 am

        They won’t live to regret it because they do not truly live, not as you and I do with air in our lungs and blood in our veins.

        Theirs is a dark, cold, machine-like existence, alive as a fungus is alive but neither sentient nor sympathetic.

        They are the Wilberforces of the music world.

    • Mac1 1.2
      27 October 2011 at 3:49 pm

      Interesting also that the road to the future as depicted by National turns to the left!

  2. M 2
    27 October 2011 at 11:06 am

    LOL – dare I put them up at work?

    Saw the Phil Goff Staying Alive clip also re his more purposeful stride.Well done Phil, that’s the ticket – you need a bit of front like Johnny Useless has except yours is backed up by intellect and not desperation.

  3. James Rawiri Meager 3
    27 October 2011 at 11:11 am

    Clear Choice link is broken – here’s the National ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUGX1tJxX2I

  5. Tom Gould 5
    27 October 2011 at 11:36 am

    Is it me, or does Key have that ‘dead eyes’ look in the billboard photo? Something not quite right there, a little spooky. And the smile looks forced, which is ironic because he has had so much practice.

    • Tiger Mountain 5.1
      27 October 2011 at 11:51 am

      That is one impressive “shit eating grin” fer sure, slightly red tinged luminous eyes–possum or drinkers peepers?

      The parody ads are certainly stacking up, the “Stop Go” TV ones are the funniest of the real ones so far. Political commentators such as Claire (Tory bitch) Robinson and Bryce (Alliance, sob…) Edwards are certainly outing themselves at an early stage in the albeit brief election period.

    • Kty 5.2
      27 October 2011 at 12:16 pm

      Hi Tom
      Could it be he’s practicing his death knell look complete with a forced smile & wave good by.

    • Lanthanide 5.3
      27 October 2011 at 12:19 pm

      The interesting thing about smiles, is that when they’re genuine the eye muscles on your face will subtly change.

      When it’s a fake/forced/polite smile, the eye muscles on your face generally remain fixed while only the mouth muscles move. This is how people tell if a smile is fake or not.

      Interestingly, Asian cultures put a much greater emphasis on eyes in portraying emotions than they do on the rest of the face; this is a reason that anime cartoons have characters with large expressive eyes. It also extends into internet emoticons, with western emoticons tending to emphasize the mouth to express emotion such as : ) : ( and : D, while eastern emoticons emphasize the eyes such as o_o and ^_^.

      In this case, I think Key is kind of straddling the boundary, where his eye muscles are not in a fully relaxed state but don’t match his mouth and it ends up looking kind of creepy.

      • Draco T Bastard 5.3.1
        27 October 2011 at 12:52 pm

        Interestingly, Asian cultures put a much greater emphasis on eyes in portraying emotions than they do on the rest of the face;

        So did we until recently. Don’t know when it started disappearing from our culture although I agree that it has.

  6. Ari 6
    27 October 2011 at 12:35 pm

    A peaknuckle war, you say? So THAT’S how we’ll beat Australia. 😉

  7. ianmac 7
    27 October 2011 at 8:35 pm

    Science says you cannot smile falsely. You can turn the lips and cheeks etc but without genuine warmth or amusement it cannot reach the eyes. Try covering John’s eyes then switch to covering all except the eyes. See what happens? Hence the Dead eyes as Tom says.
    Edit: Ooops overtaken by others especially Lanth.

  8. Invervegas 8
    27 October 2011 at 9:50 pm

    You could look here for an alternative take:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqo_OZKODb0&feature=feedu

  9. hoom 9
    27 October 2011 at 10:46 pm

    So oil spills on prime farmland as well as on the beaches?
     
    More motorways is their primary policy? O_o