★★★★★ 0/5

Gruen Nation: August 21

Gruen Nation looks at sex appeal in the election campaign, and in an unrelated topic, the daughters of Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd. Just sayin....'

2
Leave a comment

1grpTonight Gruen Nation looks at sex appeal in the election campaign, and in an unrelated topic, the daughters of Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd. Just sayin….’

At the halfway mark of Election 2013, we pause to reflect … oh god, is it only halfway? Really? Can’t we all just go home … sorry, we pause to reflect, as we did last week, that nothing seems to change from one campaign to the next, with Labor trotting out Whingeing Wendy, an advertising staple it’s been using since 1987. For tonight’s show, we travel all the way back to silent movie election advertising in 1925, hoping to find a time when things were different.

Gruen Nation host Wil Anderson and regulars Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft again try to disentangle the 24 hour, multi-platform spin tornado that is Election 2013. Joining our advertising gurus is an impressive cast of political insiders and campaign veterans. This week:

· Amanda Vanstone: former federal Liberal minister;
· Lachlan Harris: former Kevin Rudd media adviser; and
· Annabel Crabb: author and ABC political commentator.

In tonight’s episode, the Gruen team examines:

· Attack! Attack! Attack! After promising us a campaign of positivity, sunflowers, rainbows and unicorns, Kevin Rudd and Labor pulled a handbrake turn and went negative with three new TV ads, two of which seemed familiar and one of which seemed very familiar. Why is Labor so enamoured with Whingeing Wendy? Why are the Liberals still banging the carbon tax drum? And is anyone gonna buy Clive Palmer channelling Churchill?

· What Would Poland Do? How do politicians from the home of the world’s most amazing election advertising get their messages across?

· The Small Picture – Where we focus on life’s little things. Tonight, daughters. In one corner, Bridget and Frances Abbott. In the other, Jessica Rudd. What do they bring to the campaign? How much hand holding is too much? And how come Kevin Rudd’s sons are kept out of view?

· The Pitch: Mike Morrison from Innocean vs Dean Hunt from VCCP
The Brief: We asked two agencies to write ads for Rudd’s Labor and Abbott’s Liberals that rely on the candidate’s sex appeal.

· On The Trail: A crash course in Gaffe Management. What do you do when your leader goes off piste? Is there a panic button? Why do some gaffes get traction and others fizzle out? And how did Labor find that photo of Tony Abbott looking like a flasher?

Wednesday, August 21 at 8:30pm on ABC1

2 Responses

  1. I wonder what day they shoot? Interesting that last night they discussed Labor’s mum in the kitchen ad and speculated over who the woman was. No mention of the Tele story that day revealing her background. I would have thought Gruen would shoot as late as possible to be as topical as possible.

  2. Hello David,

    How is it possible that Russell Howcroft can be one of Network Ten’s top 5 execs, yet be allowed to appear as a key member of an opposition’s show that consistently outrages his own network?
    Very odd….. Would that not be the same as Anthony Flannery reading the ABC 7pm News bulletin?

Leave a Reply