http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/03/19/the...-have-come-off/


The Gloves Have Come Off

Posted Mar 19th 2007 9:36AM by Coates Bateman
Filed under: Elections, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

It was clear YouTube was going to play a significant role in the upcoming election. But, this is an interesting new development: anonymous folks posting attack ads, and then the swift response. We can't keep up with all of them. We found the Hillary one yesterday. The Obama response this morning. Now, there are even more.

Note: This is an unauthorized ad, and is not endorsed by Obama's campaign. Update: Obama has denied any association with the ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo


"It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate - one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising."

Good, very good, no matter who did it.

Speaking strictly for the art, it's exceptional.

The ad production is awesome. But it doesn't really say anything to the issues. It sort of implies that Hillary says she listens but doesn't really, without citing any examples.

The great news here is that with this type of thing accessible on the Internet, campaign funding becomes less important.

Think 1984.

It's been a long time since I read 1984, but here's what I can think of:

• Cameras in everybody's TV (issue = PATRIOT act maybe)
• The party member who seemed like he'd support a revolution but didn't (no issue)
• Newspeak (no issue)
• Ministry of Truth (no issue)
• A continuous string of wars (issue = Iraq, but how far apart are Clinton and Obama on that?)
• Rehabilitation by brainwashing

There was also a pretty darned good movie from the Orwell story.

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-movie.html


Does this look familier?



It's really pretty freaky! Use the link above and go watch some of the clips from the movie. (shiver)
I say, if some smart producer whanted to make a ton of money, make a modernized version of this movie,
and stick exactly to the original story. A remake of this movie, using modern icons.


I think it was done by the same people that did "Brazil"

And then there's THIS.

You copy/paste a crappintosh ad, and that's a watershed moment in political advertising?

Geez, Clinton = Big Brother. They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and just said, "I hate hillary but can't be bothered to explain why."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_...r/clinton_ad_14


Mystery creator of anti-Clinton ad ID'd
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
03-21-07



WASHINGTON - The mystery creator of the Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record).

Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama's presidential campaign.

De Vellis, 33, said he resigned from the firm on Wednesday after he learned that he was about to be unmasked by the HuffingtonPost.com., a liberal news and opinion Internet site.

Blue State designed Obama's Web site and one of the firm's founding members, Joe Rospars, took a leave from the company to work as Obama's director of new media. The connection to the campaign is likely to be a setback for Obama, who has cultivated an image as politician who wants to rise above bare-knuckle politics.

"It's true ... yeah, it's me," de Vellis said Wednesday evening.

He said he produced the ad outside of work and that neither Blue State nor the Obama campaign was aware of his role in the ad.

"But it raises some eyebrows, so I thought it best that I resign and not put them in that position."

Thomas Gensemer, the managing director of Blue State Digital, said de Vellis was fired.

"Mr. de Vellis created this video on his own time," Gensemer said in a statement. "It was done without the knowledge of management, and was in no way tied to his work at the firm or our formal engagement (on technology pursuits) with the Obama campaign."

In its own statement, the Obama camp said the campaign "had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad.

"Blue State Digital has separated ties with this individual and we have been assured he did no work on our campaign's account."

The Clinton campaign had no immediate comment.

In the interview, and later in a blog written for the Huffington Post, de Vellis expressed pride in his creation, while acknowledging that his employers are "disappointed and angry at me, and deservedly so."

"It changes the trajectory of my career," he said.

In his blog posting, he wrote: "I support Senator Obama. I hope he wins the primary. (I recognize that this ad is not his style of politics). I also believe that Senator Clinton is a great public servant, and if she should win the nomination, I would support her and wish her all the best."

The ad was guerrilla politics at its cleverest and had become the boffo hit of the YouTube Web site.

The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded nearly 1.5 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days. The video's final image reads "BarackObama.com."

De Vellis remained hidden for weeks, protected by the anonymity afforded by YouTube and the absence of federal regulations governing most Internet political speech.

The ad portrayed Clinton on a huge television screen addressing robotic humans in a stark, futuristic hall. A female athlete tosses a hammer at the screen, destroying Clinton's image with an explosive flash. Then this text: "On January 14th the Democratic primary will begin. And you will see why 2008 isn't going to be like '1984.'"

De Vellis said he used footage of an updated Apple ad that portrayed the female athlete wearing an iPod. He said he used standard Apple equipment to modify the video and edit Clinton's image into the clip.

Obama, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night, said his campaign knew nothing about the origins of the anti-Clinton ad.

"Frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this," he said. "It's pretty extraordinary."

De Vellis said he is an Obama supporter who was inspired to do the ad after he read reports that Clinton backers were "strong-arming" Democrats for money and support.

He added: "I didn't really like the style of some of Senator Cinton's videos and the way they were presenting her on the Internet. I just thought it was little bit disingenuous."

Still, he said, he was stunned by the reaction to the video.

"This blew up much much more than I ever thought it would," he said. "I want to make it clear that I don't think that Hillary Clinton is Big Brother or a bad person or anything."

Must not show this stuff in Texas. Maybe it's because after I watched it I was thinking....WTF was THAT about? Both Hillary and Obama have been to Texas speaking though it hasnt gotten much traction. In fact, not much of anything has so far.

Polls seem to show Gulliani out in front.
Makes me scratch my head and think, sure glad it's way early.

Elections like this are pretty entertaining. First they throw a piece of lint....then the other throws a spit ball....before long you have a full fledged mud bath going on.

Hillary wont do well here. Doubt Obama will either though better than Hillary.

I dont pay much attention to polls per se. Getting to travel quite abit allows to see what others are thinking and saying in other parts of the country. Not seeing huge attention being paid to the early polls or anything for that matter. Most I talk to are on a wait and see who comes to the dance basis. Went to a reunion of guys I served with last week. Some still in, some not. Hillary certainly on the bottom of the list. Obama was a curiosity. Gulliani was respected but no whole hearted support. McCain was seen as Ok but no enthusiasm. Brownback unknown to most. Kerry was laughed at. Edwards is seen as a spoiled rich kid. I attend these type of things almost every month, politics always comes up but strange that there is no fervor or enthusiasm one way or another.

Hillary won't do well anywhere except New York.
The last poll I saw placed her third, which is at least interesting considering the size of her war chest!

Also, coke is good and pepsi is the antichrist. Don't buy the branding. Don't repeat the branding. Lots of money was spent to make you think this way. Form your own damn opinions.

I wholly agree. The original ad impressed me when it first came out, but this whole-sale plagerism left me feeling the producer was a rather lazy individual with no personal creativity. I did get a nice yawn out of it, though...

The original ad must've been a television spot, which would explain my unawareness of the plagiarism. I don't like Hillary or her politics. Neoliberal and neoconservative are far too much the same for me.

As stated in the follow up article, the guy that made him self didn't think all that much of it, in that he didn't expect it to generate this much attention.

I don't personally care for Clintons politics, so for me the ad is a fine used of what's available.

As to watershed. The quality and or content of the add is certanly not what they're talking about.
It's the fact that it has happened. Because of the success of this off handed attempt, one can certainly expect more.
And that makes it a watershed.

The popularity and controversy of the ad say what should be said...that people who have ready access to technology don't much like mrs. clinton.

Doing a little cut-and-pasting of my own...



Sky, in your case I know at least some of the issues on which you fault Hillary because I regularly read your posts. But Mr. De Vellis, who knows? "Real" campaign ads (whether sponsored by a candidate or not) focus on issues. This one would only change the opinion of someone who was both undecided and weak-minded.

I can't speak for others.
As for myself this ad appealed to me because it spoke what I already feel.

Exactly. This ad plays to feelings. If you hate Hillary, then it's the Greatest Thing Ever. I have to admit that it's a good use of intellectual jujitsu: turning Hillary's strength (early lead in polls and funds) into a weakness. However, since this was stolen part and parcel from Apple's identical act of jujitsu turning Microsoft's market dominance into a perceived weakness, I don't give the creator a lot of credit.

We could also discuss what the spot represents: anonymous political speech, free, seen by millions of people.

Personally, I think the creator was just messing around, using what was available to him.
I don't think he expected the video clip to be so popular,
and I don't think he expected to have to quit his job because of it.


Also, when I first viewed it, I thought it seemed familiar, but had forgotten it was somebody else's ad.
What I first saw was the art, and not the message.

So for me anyway, credit goes to the original creator.

As to the question of plagiarism. Many of us do it all the time. So lets not be hypocritical.
When we snag a couple of images off the net to create GWB cartoons, we did not create the original images.
It's what we did to and with the originals that is our art.
Same with this video clip and it's deliberate plagiarism.

Example:
I deliberately and knowingly plagerized 4 seperate images to create this Gif.
How I put them together though, is original and all mine. Even the original idea is mine.

Agreed.

Oh, well, if many do it then it must be alright...

It's not the plagerism that so much annoys me about this ad, rather, it is the headlines blaring the adjective "stunning" in reference to it. Stunning? The only thing stunning about it is the plagerism. In the ad Clinton is saying nothing more than (and I am paraphrasing) "I want to help the working man", "I want everyone to be a part of the dialogue", "I want to hear from those who disagree with me". What is so shocking, so subversive about such phrases that they are worthy of being attached to an ad representing a totalitarian state? Surely the producer could have found news clips that better outline her failures of progressive thougt; they are not so hard to find. If this is the most stunning thing that can be said of Hillary then one could easily question why she is so disliked by both ends of the political spectrum.

This ad is a bit of pablum that was dished out by the media and lapped up by those who are always looking for something on which to comment but dislike doing their own thinking.

No one is being blamed for anything, Sky, and this lacks sufficient relevance for more than passing discussion. I am simply saying I don't think the ad is the big deal it's being made out to be. Take it down a thousand.


What message, exactly? For what is it famous other than plagerising an old Apple ad?


Your use the the word "artist" is flawed, as would be evidenced did the producer attempt to distribute the ad through more mainstream channels. You are clearly more impressed with this guy's "talent" than I.


Most are only aware of the ad because it was hyped by CNN and MSNBC, Sky, thus it was, by definition of the coloquialism, "dished".


Most certainly, which leaves me wondering why you posted on the subject some 13 times, and why you seem to feel it necessary to argue with anyone who presents an opinion that does not agree with yours. WTF?!?

And don't worry, the last word on this will be yours. I know how important that is to you.

Edit to add......

Oh, and BTW. I have posted over fifteen and a half Thousand times on this forum.
13 posts here is hardly significant.



Edit one more time....


Yer still a cutie, and we both know it!