A group called the College Republican National Committee has produced swing-state video ads comparing candidates for governor to wedding dresses. I will write that again. The videos compare candidates for public office to wedding dresses, maybe because women have to choose among them, and there are reality TV shows about choosing wedding dresses that are funny and popular, so hey, why not?
That seems to be the reasoning, but no one’s really sure.
Thing is, those TV shows are funny because they’re about women picking out wedding dresses. That’s funny. Less funny is women picking out wedding dresses that are stand-ins for candidates for public office — less funny in part because it treads into expanding Republican Doh! We got the gender thing wrong, again! territory.
Gawker said the ads were “so dumb the words don’t even make sense.” Really, it’s not just the words; it’s the whole conceit. And Gawker’s Sam Biddle breaks that down, too:
[blockquote]If this seems like an impossible stupid way to convince anyone to do anything, let’s walk through the metaphor. Everyone loves TLC’s hit shows — if everyone loves these shows, and the shows are the same as the GOP, then everyone will love the GOP? The two organizations even have the same number of letters, and rhyme, so you can see how some strategist somewhere thought the video would work.[/blockquote]
The actress in the ad, who plays the shopper “Brittany,” mispronounces former Congressman Bob Beauprez’s name. She says “boo-pray.” It’s “boh-pray.” She doesn’t know the candidate. Of course she doesn’t. That fact kind of suits the whole clueless theme. More significant: whoever was directing this mess for the College Republican National Committee doesn’t know who Bob Beauprez is either.
That much is clear. No one who actually knew the two candidates running for governor in Colorado would position grandfather Bob Beauprez, the white-haired banker conservative who opposes gay marriage and IUDs and doesn’t believe in climate change science as the candidate-dress with “new ideas.” Nor would they position Hickenlooper, the wacky former brewpub entrepreneur who is for gay marriage, full women’s reproductive rights and who believes in climate change as “outdated.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to let go of old styles,” says the voiceover at the end. “But it all worked out in the end because Brittany said yes to the Bob Beauprez.”
Young women saying “yes” to the Bob Beauprez. That’s just kind of gross. Even in the world of tossed-off puerile metaphors.
[…] Outside ads weren’t always as helpful to Beauprez. As October began, the College Republican National Committee launched a Beauprez ad that likened women voters, a key demographic in all Colorado races, to wedding-dress shoppers on a reality-TV show. The spot featured a young woman associating Hickenlooper and Beauprez with wedding dresses and mispronouncing her chosen candidate/dress’ name as the “Boo-pray.” […]