Hermain Cain’s somewhat unusual ads have inspired some to come up with all-time lists of bizarre political ads from the U.S.. I wonder if we could use the collective wisdom of Monkey Cagers to find some of the most bizarre political ads across the globe. I accept nominations in the comments and via e-mail.
I nominate this ad from Rita Verdonk’s Trots op Nederland (Proud of the Netherlands). She was a cabinet minister and leader of what once was a prominent opposition party, until voters forced her into retirement. The ad is horrific on so many levels that it is hard to do justice in words. Watch and weep.
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This one from Poland made the rounds a couple weeks ago:
Okay, no embedding so here’s the direct link: http://youtu.be/AKPmkRU-Bzs
Do the parties have to be serious? Bc of German campaign law, _all_ parties get free air time on national TV, which leads to some rather amusing spots.
This one is awesome for both its ineptness and its craziness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd1gUFr25RE
(the Christian Center party usually – anti Islamic, nationalist, Christian fundamentalists get less than .5% of votes, though in fairness they have to compete with the Partei Bibeltreuer Christen, the party for Christians faithful to the bible.
The best spot ever goes to the “Naturgesetz Partei”, whose main program was to bring about world peace by assembling one million yogi jumpers – no youtube, though.
One of the more hilarious spots by a major party was this very 1980s spot by the social democrats, desperately trying to appear young:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaZD_uaXjBk
(as for Rita Verdkonk – that doesn’t seem all that crazy in comparison, though for a German, hearing hateful Dutch is a bit traumatizing – all the Dutch people we usually get on TV are happy and smiling, doing comedy, entertaining kids, or helping people get their dream wedding.)
Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBS-rLkDIog
are some finnish yogi jumpers. It’s a news report clip covering Natural Law Party party convention or something. They got 6 819 votes at 1995 parliamentary elections.
“this very 1980s spot by the social democrats”
There I was thinking the Proclaimers were Scottish.
This Rick Santorum ad from his failed 2006 reelection campaign is a classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnfURvvNSI8
In a nutshell, he pitches his talking points while wandering around in the middle of a WWE wresting match. It really is as bizarre as it sounds.
I am sorry that due to a latent and short history of democracy, South Korea has nothing to offer to this golden post. It did make my day anyway
Here we have talking fish (“Gutierrez is employment”) in Juan Gutierrez’s campaign for the Guatemalan presidency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKTcw5J8qvA&feature=player_embedded
He finished with 3% of the vote in September’s election
This electoral broadcast from a candidate for the Tokyo Governor surely wins some kind of prize:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOuumGX-6uc
Iceland’s ‘Best’ party. They sing their platform, which includes a polar bear for the Reykjavik zoo in tune to ‘Simply The Best’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxBW4mPzv6E
Seriously, watch it.
Oh, and forgot to say – the Best Party won, and Jon Gnarr is now mayor Reykjavik.
I am, however, not sure if they have a bear yet.
Lorgy – no, as of this past August, they had no polar bear in the zoo (and towels in the local swimming pools were not free – another broken campaign promise). Very disappointing. Love their political ad, though.
LMAO! “Sam Katz; he kicks children in the race” Wow… kinda makes Karl Rove look subtle. Funniest ad I’ve ever seen!