With a month to go before the Ontario provincial election, two new developments in advertising threaten to blow this whole race wide open. No, I’m just kidding. (What does that even mean? Aren’t close races always wide open?)

Here is what happened, though. First, Dalton McGuinty has gone shockingly, disgustingly, mud-slingingly positive. Second, Tim Hudak has disappeared, at least from his ads.

McGuinty’s ads—called “Leadership”—start with our leader (get it?) breaking out his ruefullest smile.

“Well, the polls tell us I’m not the most popular guy in the country. I accept that. Doing what’s right is not always doing what’s popular.”

Then a guy with a bat comes out and start beating on him while screaming “OF. ALL. THE. SMUG. THINGS. TO. SAY” No, he doesn’t. What actually happens is that McGuinty goes on to claim various achievements with respect to surgical wait times, family doctors, full-day kindergarten, public schools and everyone’s favourite, wind turbines. David Suzuki, apparently, would vote for McGuinty. More than once. And you’ll shut up and let him.

Here’s the ad:

Let’s leave aside the merits of McGuinty’s claims. The ads themselves, their manufacture, are viscous and sticky with disingenuousness.

The basic idea is that McGuinty is supposedly personally unpopular, so in a bid for ‘honesty’ they put him front and centre, on a white background, to face up to or “pwn” this accusation. Look, chirps the white background. He has nothing to hide. On this TV studio set.

Except, of course, McGuinty isn’t personally unpopular. Not really. (According to a recent poll, Ontario voters say they still think Dalton McGuinty would make the best premier, they just may not vote for him.) Sure, McGuinty’s not flashy or particularly handsome. But last time any of us checked, Tim Hudak’s campaign events don’t involve the candidate whirling rhinestone nipple chains while rutting mercilessly with Abercrombie models. McGuinty is no more a visual or even personal-appeal liability than Hudak.

In fact, the Ontario PCs may have recognized this. They’ve taken the opposite approach to the Liberals—namely, hiding their star candidate. Recent ads appear to have dropped all scenes involving Hudak.

Before:

After:

This is not to say the PCs won’t revert back to the old ads, in which Hudak relentlessly pokes McGuinty with the stinging epithet “Tax Man,” an insult I know sent me sobbing into the little boys’ room daily for most of my elementary school years. But for now, Hudak is gone.

… Incidentally, if you think the Liberal ad basically just rips off all the old Mac ads, never let it be said they don’t love a good advertising-related theft:

The Ontario Way (Summertime Liberal party ad)

Imported from Detroit (Chrysler’s SuperBowl ad starring Eminem)

__
Christopher Michael is a regular contributor to Toronto Standard and a writer for The Guardian newspaper.

Cross-posted on Hawkblocker — a website of unbiased advertising reviews for men and women and other demographics. Hawkblocker.com: Ad reviews by the prey.