Obama’s First 2012 TV Campaign Ad — Video + My Thoughts

January 20th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

So, Obama’s first 2012 presidential campaign ad is out. Running in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina since last night, ‘The Facts About President Obama’s Energy Record’ is basically all about energy. Take a look:

My general thoughts are ‘meh’. And here are the reasons why, starting with the good points:

Obama Campaign Ad ‘Scores’

1. The title: Facts. People like facts. People trust facts. The facts are on Obama’s side and he flaunts that. Score!

2. Calling out the billionaires: Ever heard of Occupy Wall Street? Ever heard of people fed up with corruption in politics? Ever heard of the public loving oil companies? Yes, Yes, No. First line of the video lays out who’s attacking Obama,… and it’s the bad guys.

3. Focus on energy: Energy, no matter what his opponents want to say, is Obama’s strong point. Just about any way you look at it, Obama has a lot of energy successes to tout.

4. Focus on clean energy: Clean energy is a winner. Obama’s team knows it. People love clean energy (as they should). Being the president that is for clean energy–win!

5. Clean energy economy = 2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly: Nice, and nice graphic.

Obama Campaign Ad ‘Fails’

1. The title: A little dry, no? A little neutral, no? How about something like, “Fact: Obama’s Energy Record Kicks A**”–OK, just joking. But, seriously, how about something a little stronger and more positive?

2. The language — WTF?!: I’m sorry, but using ‘tethered’ is fine and dandy for educated folk and maybe even for most people, but it might just fly over the heads of a lot of the people this video is aimed at. I realize it was a quote, but find a better one! Anyone with half a brain cell can look into the Solyndra story and see it was spun more vehemently and ridiculously by the fossil fuel industry and its bought fools than a 100-year-old dradle. But, for the rest of the nation…

Some more good words and phrases thrown in there: ‘record on ethics’, ‘unprecedented’, ‘our dependence on oil is below 50%’ (maybe try: ‘we get less than 50% of our oil from foreign countries’), ‘kept a promise to toughen ethics rules’.

3. Sh** gets really hazy: A 30-second ad like this needs to be pointed, focused. This ad was all over the place, and I don’t want to count how many words they stuffed into it. After watching it three times (and being someone who writes on energy for a living), I didn’t know exactly what I was supposed to be thinking at the end. There was too much crammed into it. (Of course, I knew what I was supposed to be thinking before I even watched the video… knew what was going to be the point, but my point is there was no ‘Bam! That’s right.’ at the end of the video, and all the concepts and points mushed together in 30 seconds really leaves a viewer pretty indifferent, imho.)

4. No humor: OK, not the focus here, but slipping in a little humor is almost always good. And key to Obama’s re-election, I think, is associating Obama with good feelings. A few good jokes go a long way. (Please, don’t critique my own work like this–I know how much I fail in this arena!)

5. Who chose the picture used 7 seconds in?: Paul Harris of the Guardian was the one who turned me on to that mistake (so, hopefully, not too many people draw such a link… I can only imagine how Tea Partiers would jump on this on): “Next, we see a shot of Obama appearing presidential in an office (though he also looks a little like he’s giving a one-arm fascist salute … hmmm, poor picture choice).” Yikes, no joke. And he’s not even smiling and it looks like his eyes aren’t fully open!

6. Too wordy & too texty: Again, the ad was far too wordy. It also had too much text. (Yes, I know texty is not a word.)

Overall

Meh..

My suggestion: Get Josh Fox on your team!

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: Obama, obama 2012, obama campaign ads, obama first campaign ad

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Rabeej

Honestly, I think you’re being a bit too critical of the ad. I thought it got the point across without being too aggressive, especially considering that it’s just the first ad of the campaign. I do agree with you, though, that it probably could have been a bit more specific or focused on one particular message; they did seem to be trying to cram a bunch of stuff into one 30-second ad. With all that said, I love your blog and I read it religiously every day. Thanks for all you do!
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Thanks a ton. Maybe you’r right. Interestingly, that Guardian author basically tore into it as horrible. i think he went overboard, but maybe i did as well. overall, i Definitely think Obama’s team is on the right track here.
  
  thanks for the note about the blog too, makes me so happy — do our best to make this site a go-to site for cleantech… and i’m probably too critical of my own shortcomings with it as well