political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Gordon Brown's Trick or Treat
Tomorrow, Halloween, would have been the eve of Election Day if Gordon Brown had had the guts to call one. On Halloween the Conservatives are launching this poster, which they're putting in regional newspapers and on ad-vans.
I never knew he had been planning a Wednesday poll, Iain. Or do you not know what day it is?
Oh well, there's always the fun of a cheap shot.
I'm just wondering how we'd be feeling with this morning's opinion poll (41/33/16) and an election on Thursday? Cameron in no.10 by Bonfire night and Gordon Brown as a ready made Guy for every bonfire?
Hey ho, we now have to wait unti 2010. Which is as it should be as an election this year would have been a constitutional outrage, but let's enjoy the fantasy.
Oh here we go, more naff, childish, student rag week stunts. This sort of nonsense really makes you look like people capable of government. Whatever next Newcastle Brown Ale bottles, and 99 red balloons. Grow up.
The Tories love putting these sorts of images out but it just annoys people. Waste of time and money. And to be fair the Tories haven't a good record on calling elections or referenda.
Due to the flunking fist's dithering, the Tories had pre booked various poster sites. So the money has already been spent, and they are making use of them.
Frankly, it's silly. Trick or Treat is an American tradition and has no resonance in Britain. And because it has no resonance, it looks weak.
Bollocks. It resonates with me and other people in my age group, and we've had kids 'trick or treating' at our house for years. Living here, I'd know that.
Machiavelli's Understudy. How bereft. The British are truly adrift if they have begun to adopt foreign customs they don't understand. Also, I'm sure you it all wrong. The Brits always get something critical slightly off when they copy America. Having spent so much time in the United States, I would know that.
Strapworld - God knows, I am for thumping the socialists. But I think the execution is poor and the meaning - other than the one we all sniggered at - isn't immediately apparent. The British are not nurturing a grudge against Brown for not having an election on Thursday. That's all forgotten in the bad economic news and the run-up to Christmas. Most people won't make the connection. I'm all for kicking Labour, but not with drippy, weak, studentish "cleverness".
Weak little kicks to the shins make the Tories look weak.
Thats the spirit! You can almost smell the fear of the NuLab trolls now! Keep sticking the boot in and just watch the poll figures rise and rise. People need a focus for their heartfelt anger at the utter betrayal of NuLiebour. Of course they and their shills(BBC) will fight back hard BUT the fact is they are desperate and running scared! Just watch those piggy's squeal! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.
PS The gravytrain is about to be derailed? If so, the parasites will not be happy!
The "demon eyes" poster turned out to be spot on correct didnt it? We are being ruled by the most corrupt,lying,self serving and morally perverted regime ever to call itself an elected regime? Bliar and Brown has turned us into a Zimbabwe type hell hole!
It's not silly at all. With the public's trust in Gordon Brown being so laughably low, this is a great little piece of advertising which will turn a few heads.
Does anyone remember the Dr Who posters of about 30 years ago? They were very much in this style, black and green with the face of John Pertwee on them. I found them quite disturbing as a child. For that reason I think they a great piece of design. This image will stick.
verity, Everyone knows what trick or treat means at this time of year, schoolchildren always knock on my door in their fancy dress, of course it has resonance.
Verity, the awful Trick or Treat has been expanding in the UK for years now - so much so that police and local papers have printed posters to put up in windows of private houses asking children not to call.
And because I'm a miserable old sod who refuses to keep getting up to answer the door and to dish out sweets to all and sundry, I've put up a poster too.
It beggars belief that this was billed as a major speech from Gordon Brown...What i heard was a lot of waffle & rhetoric..a rehash of 'old policies' ! It was hard to stay with speech..too hard! ..I had to switch over. So folks if i have missed an important announcement ..pen to paper please.
Well - I don't really rate the trick or treat poster - but I love the 'Today has been Cancelled' one - posted on Ben Brogan. Look forward to Cam's speech tomorrow.
Well, looks like core Conservatives have shifted from giving little kids rocks & lumps of coal for Halloween, and are now just turning out the lights and refusing to answer the front door.
So David Cameron's realpolitik charm offense is working!
Entertaining but personally I think that the "Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled" poster that the "Mail's" Benedict Brogan is showing on his blog is more effective.
Incidentally, you never said who won the competitition to guess the next Government U-turn. Is it because there have been so many?
Since when do elections get held on a Wednesday?
ReplyDeleteTomorrow 'election day' ...... a Wednesday?.
ReplyDeleteWhoops
Frankly, it's silly. Trick or Treat is an American tradition and has no resonance in Britain. And because it has no resonance, it looks weak.
ReplyDeleteBad move.
This is rubbish. Does anyone other that the people in the westminster bubble actually give a shit if there was an election or not?
ReplyDeleteThere is no real urge amongst the General Public to get rid of Labour.
Is Iain Dale's diary now an official part of the CCHQ media operation, giving you advanced notice of any campaign?
ReplyDeleteScares the s**t out of me, 365 nights of the year, not just one, and he doesn't need a mask to hide behind.
ReplyDeleteI never knew he had been planning a Wednesday poll, Iain. Or do you not know what day it is?
ReplyDeleteOh well, there's always the fun of a cheap shot.
I'm just wondering how we'd be feeling with this morning's opinion poll (41/33/16) and an election on Thursday? Cameron in no.10 by Bonfire night and Gordon Brown as a ready made Guy for every bonfire?
Hey ho, we now have to wait unti 2010. Which is as it should be as an election this year would have been a constitutional outrage, but let's enjoy the fantasy.
Oh here we go, more naff, childish, student rag week stunts. This sort of nonsense really makes you look like people capable of government. Whatever next Newcastle Brown Ale bottles, and 99 red balloons. Grow up.
ReplyDeleteMore like trick and retreat.
ReplyDeleteBlimey, that's truly brilliant! Mostly on blogs and in papers I'll be bound. Not so many actually paid for. Cheapskates! But quite brilliant.
ReplyDeleteBetter than Dave's idea of the picture of a one-legged lithuanian lesbian with the slogan:
"No more taxes for art from this one!"
But it must have been a close run thing.
The Tories love putting these sorts of images out but it just annoys people. Waste of time and money. And to be fair the Tories haven't a good record on calling elections or referenda.
ReplyDeleteUm, wouldn't Thursday 1 November have been election day not Wednesday 31st October?
ReplyDeleteSome real dummies on here.
ReplyDeleteAll you have to do is read the post - the poster is being launched on Halloween, making "tomorrow" Thursday, November 1st - non-election day.
""one-legged lithuanian lesbian ""
ReplyDeleteTaking the micky out of the:-
Disabled,
Gays
And an entire Nation.
Cambos, doing a Boris
I thought the election would have been November 1st - Thursday?
ReplyDeleteThere’s a distinct whiff of panic from Gordon’s trolls today.
ReplyDeleteCould it be the Tory 8 point lead I wonder?
As for Chris Paul, Jesus wept, how old is he, 12?
"Waste of time and money. "
ReplyDeleteDue to the flunking fist's dithering, the Tories had pre booked various poster sites. So the money has already been spent, and they are making use of them.
Unfortunate echoes of 'Demon Eyes' though......
I like it.
ReplyDeleteWe are being stealth-taxed to the hilt. The Nulab odyssey is being funded on credit. Brown will send the homunculus bully Balls to get you. Be afraid.
Thank god Cameron's put an end to punch and judy politics.
ReplyDeleteWho needs a halloween poster when you see how creepy this picture is?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.labour.org.uk/
Looks a bit "budget" to be honest! Someone with 20 mins spare and a copy of photoshop?
ReplyDeleteSo much for the Tories not playing Punch and Judy politics.
it does have slight echoes of devil eyes, but it's not nearly as nasty or personal, thank god.
ReplyDeleteand i agree with anonymous saying that we had the sites pre-booked for the non-election, so we might as well use them.
Verity opined...
ReplyDeleteFrankly, it's silly. Trick or Treat is an American tradition and has no resonance in Britain. And because it has no resonance, it looks weak.
Bollocks. It resonates with me and other people in my age group, and we've had kids 'trick or treating' at our house for years. Living here, I'd know that.
Oh God, The Spivs are back in town.
ReplyDeleteHilton?
Verity, who I normally agree with, is off beam.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun. It ridicules Brown and that will annoy him greatly!
Keep kicking the man. I believe he will soon end up going for a drive with the men in white suits (or to be PC..women in white suits)
I would like one with an abbacus with Brown's face superimposed...with the legend "And we all thought he could count!"
Then SIMPLE BROWN!
Machiavelli's Understudy. How bereft. The British are truly adrift if they have begun to adopt foreign customs they don't understand. Also, I'm sure you it all wrong. The Brits always get something critical slightly off when they copy America. Having spent so much time in the United States, I would know that.
ReplyDeleteStrapworld - God knows, I am for thumping the socialists. But I think the execution is poor and the meaning - other than the one we all sniggered at - isn't immediately apparent. The British are not nurturing a grudge against Brown for not having an election on Thursday. That's all forgotten in the bad economic news and the run-up to Christmas. Most people won't make the connection.
I'm all for kicking Labour, but not with drippy, weak, studentish "cleverness".
Weak little kicks to the shins make the Tories look weak.
> http://www.labour.org.uk/
ReplyDeleteWow, you're right.
Talk about dead eyes.
I like it...but then I'm odd like that...as it does tend to raise the spectre of 'demon eyes'
ReplyDeleteAuntie Flo'
Weak, puerile, obvious, unimaginative, tasteless. Please can we have some grown-up campaign copy?
ReplyDeleteSEA SHANTY IRISH here
ReplyDelete(slight tech malfucto w/google)
As a Brownite, allow me to say that when I saw the poster I almost fell out of my chair laughing.
VERY effective because it uses humor extremely well, something exceeding difficult to pull off in political advertising.
The humor tied to Halloween theme immunizes this poster in my humble opinion from being the "Tory Demon Eyes".
Thats the spirit! You can almost smell the fear of the NuLab trolls now! Keep sticking the boot in and just watch the poll figures rise and rise. People need a focus for their heartfelt anger at the utter betrayal of NuLiebour. Of course they and their shills(BBC) will fight back hard BUT the fact is they are desperate and running scared!
ReplyDeleteJust watch those piggy's squeal!
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.
PS
The gravytrain is about to be derailed?
If so, the parasites will not be happy!
Dear Auntie Flo,
ReplyDeleteThe "demon eyes" poster turned out to be spot on correct didnt it? We are being ruled by the most corrupt,lying,self serving and morally perverted regime ever to call itself an elected regime?
Bliar and Brown has turned us into a Zimbabwe type hell hole!
Silly poster. Patronising. A waste of money.
ReplyDeleteDo these posters ever get posted or are they just 'unveiled' on a poster van for the evening news bulletins and then driven back to the garage?
It's not silly at all. With the public's trust in Gordon Brown being so laughably low, this is a great little piece of advertising which will turn a few heads.
ReplyDeleteI think this poster campaign appears childish - and tacky.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point of wasting money on that?
the poor clucking fist (that would make a good poster btw gordon as a chicken with 'clucking fist chickens out') everyone seems to have it in for him.
ReplyDeleteI see the labour trolls are making fools of themselves by not understanding tomorrow means tomorrow 1st November.
Does anyone remember the Dr Who posters of about 30 years ago? They were very much in this style, black and green with the face of John Pertwee on them. I found them quite disturbing as a child. For that reason I think they a great piece of design. This image will stick.
ReplyDeletemegz says :
ReplyDelete"tomorrow means tomorrow 1st November."
yesterday iain said tomorrow and today is now tomorrow but it's still not the tomorrow that iain meant in the first place.
:)
Carry on boys this is money well spent and I 'm sure that it will encourage lots of people to vote for you!
ReplyDeleteverity,
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows what trick or treat means at this time of year, schoolchildren always knock on my door in their fancy dress, of course it has resonance.
Verity, the awful Trick or Treat has been expanding in the UK for years now - so much so that police and local papers have printed posters to put up in windows of private houses asking children not to call.
ReplyDeleteAnd because I'm a miserable old sod who refuses to keep getting up to answer the door and to dish out sweets to all and sundry, I've put up a poster too.
The Times had a cartoon showing Gordon Brown trick or treating recently :
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/3cym2y
Did it inspire the poster ?
It beggars belief that this was billed as a major speech from Gordon Brown...What i heard was a lot of waffle & rhetoric..a rehash of 'old policies' ! It was hard to stay with speech..too hard! ..I had to switch over. So folks if i have missed an important announcement ..pen to paper please.
ReplyDeleteGordon does tricks, but it's no treat.
ReplyDeleteWell - I don't really rate the trick or treat poster - but I love the 'Today has been Cancelled' one - posted on Ben Brogan. Look forward to Cam's speech tomorrow.
ReplyDeletefrom SEA SHANTY IRISH
ReplyDeleteWell, looks like core Conservatives have shifted from giving little kids rocks & lumps of coal for Halloween, and are now just turning out the lights and refusing to answer the front door.
So David Cameron's realpolitik charm offense is working!
Entertaining but personally I think that the "Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled" poster that the "Mail's" Benedict Brogan is showing on his blog is more effective.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, you never said who won the competitition to guess the next Government U-turn. Is it because there have been so many?
Wheres this vision he keeps clucking about?? so far its U turns and stolen policys.
ReplyDeletelove the poster gives the brownies something to shout at.
we are stuffing them in the polls is waste of money
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't have been so hidebound and obvious. If they had to import Hallow'een terminology, better would have been "Tricky Gordon's no treat".
ReplyDeleteThe Devils Kitchen did some better ones, although they were not safe for work!
ReplyDelete