Excellent campaigning

I'm not a fan of the so-called reforms about Wisconsin's collective bargaining for public workers. To be fair, reform was necessary, but it went a little too far in some ways and way too far in other ways. Regardless, I have to give props to the campaign the "WI Club for Growth" has going on. It's the billboard below. Because of the psychology involved, it's an excellent campaign.

The reason it's particularly excellent is because research shows that so many people automatically discount ads from party they disagree with. If you are a Democrat who likes Democrat A, any ad that says "Democrat A is good" turns you on and any ad that says "Democrat A is bad" turns you off. Both happen viscerally even before you apply rational thought to it.

So this ad starts by inviting you in before your brain can shut out the ad viscerally, before you can recognize it is not pro-Democrat A. It shows a nice picture of Barrett's face (from his own mayoral site, I believe). It says something that is apparently complimentary. Then it slides in the dagger. Because of the positive Barrett image and the positive main statement, it will cause some cognitive dissonance for Democrats, like it or not.

Ads like this don't have to change someone's mind in order to change the debate. If they influence Democrats to speak up just a little less loudly or less often, and embolden Republicans to speak out a little louder or more often, that is how they influence things. Suddenly the Republican position seems more popular, and people are influenced by that 'social proof'. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof

Of course, the figure (on the billboard) is arguable and, like much of the "savings" that today's Republicans brag about, there's an assumption that it was saved without any cost, as if someone just donated that money rather than cutting benefits or services.

Perhaps this technique can be used by others:

George W. Bush's legacy keeps looking better
because Obama stopped things from getting even worse.

It's time to end class warfare
or we will destroy you. Paid for by the top 1%.

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