KAMLOOPS — Fellow columnist Doug Collins wrote this week that he doesn’t think much of political attack ads.
That’s one man’s opinion, and many would agree, but I’m here to suggest it’s not the majority view.
Thing is, attack ads work. If they didn’t work, politicians wouldn’t use them. And they work because they influence how we vote.
For years, the federal Conservatives were masters of attack advertising, slaying Liberal leader after Liberal leader — remember when Michael Ignatieff was “just visiting,” and when a puffin pooped on Stéphane Dion’s shoulder?
Worked like a charm, until Justin Trudeau took over. Making fun of his “nice hair” and saying he “just wasn’t ready” didn’t do the job because the country was tired of the Conservatives and wanted change.
Here in B.C., who would deny that the Liberal attack ads aimed at then-NDP leader Adrian Dix for his “Kinder Morgan surprise,” and Dix’s refusal to fight back, didn’t help the NDP lose the last election?
“Going negative,” as it’s called, might not change the minds of hardcore supporters of one party or another, but undecided voters take notice of what they see on TV. We are hard-wired to pay more attention to the negative than to the positive.
And since when is politics not a blood sport? Taxpayers love to blast away at politicians, call them all kinds of names and blame them for every single thing that has ever gone wrong.
We are an indignant, self-righteous bunch, and we aren’t shy about exaggerating the facts to fit our point of view.
Between elections, politicians do exactly the same thing.
Why, then, should we expect candidates to play Mr. and Ms. Nice Guy come election time? The real issue isn’t whether political advertising is negative, but only whether or not it’s true.
And the truth is, we like to say we don’t like attack ads, but we really do.
