Sweater Flop

A couple of postings ago, I lambasted the Conservative Party's famous "sweater" TV ads, the ones designed to remake Prime Minister Harper's image.

In that posting I wrote, "Like it or not, Stephen Harper is widely perceived as a cold, calculating, bully. It might not be true, but in politics perception is reality. And airing a bunch of ads with Harper in a sweater talking about motherhood issues, isn't going to change that reality. "

Well it looks like I was right.

According to a recent Nanos-Sun Media poll, 83% of Canadians say their opinion of Harper has either become worse or remained unchanged since the beginning of the election campaign.

The lesson here is, you don't use political ads to change people's minds.

You use them to exploit and intensify already existing perceptions and fears and hopes.