I’m admittedly not a campaign veteran, so it’s entirely possible that porn has been used in a campaign ad before. (Not likely, but, who am I to state it categorically?) But I think I’m safe in saying it’s probably the first time that porn has been used in an online effort to help get out the vote.
If you dare, here’s the campaign ad from Michael Latigona, independent candidate for NJ governor. It’s all there: sex, bribery, corruption… I’ve never, ever seen anything like this.
And hopefully never will again.
Update: Received an e-mail from someone at “dudenj@*******.net” claiming to be from the campaign. They’ve asked that I remove a claim that the animation contains racial slurs. I’ve watched it again, and agree that my characterization was a bit harsher on that point than the animation warranted. Character assassination? Yes. Racial stereotyping? (A la Italians as 20s gangsters.) Yes. But racial slurs? No, I guess not. So, wish granted — I’ve removed that from the original language above.
Oh — and they also dispute my use of the word porn. “this is not porn, and is nothing worse than is on TV. It is risque, but certainly not porn.” I guess if your campaign has to argue whether or not an ad they’ve put out is porn, the campaign is no longer focused on issues that matter. They’d like me to point out that on the candidate’s website, there’s a lengthy (and boy, do I mean lengthy) defense of the animation. Judge for yourself…
One final comment — in that defense of the animation, Michael claims that those of us who claimed offense at the ad are hypocrites: there’s a novel concept. I never said Michael couldn’t do what he did, I said he shouldn’t. And I hope others choose not to. There’s no honor in heaping scorn on your opponents, questioning others’ motives, railing at the media, and belittling those of us who question your tactics. And it’s almost certainly not the way to win an election.
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