"one of the slickest and most engaging political ads in California right now...In this ad, the medium is the message. Rather than targeting corporate donations and their influence on politicians, it attacks television advertising funded by those donations."
--
Robert Salladay of the LA Times on Bill Hillsman's
new ad for Prop 89
In contrast to the political ads that make you want to buy a Tivo, there are ads by Bill Hillsman, who can inspire voters instead of turning them off. Markos said, "Hillsman is a creative guy in an industry utterly devoid of creativity. He runs circles around the crap peddled by the rest."
Hillsman's new ad is for Proposition 89, the clean money and fair elections initiative in California and the ad is getting great reviews in the California Blogosphere.
The ad,
Stop The Pounding, takes direct aim at what has become the dominant factor in many elections nationally, as well as in California elections: the ceaseless avalanche of misleading ads that distort our political process. In California, the vast majority of ads are financed by big corporations in an attempt to overwhelm voters and buy elections. Drug companies spent more that $80 million to defeat prescription drug reform in 2005. This year spending for and against Prop. 87 has already smashed that record, and Prop. 86 ads are not far behind. Among the contributors, Chevron, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, all have spent over $20 million.
The problem with trying to clean up the big money mess in California is that those same special interests are spending millions against Proposition 89. They are -- you guessed it -- running deceiving ads designed to turn voters off with the hope that they will give up on things ever getting better.
So we are getting creative. The Hillsman ad is an important part of that strategy and we have online tools to help you spread the ad to your friends.
Even if you don't live in California, I'm sure you know people who do and they are likely to already be disgusted by the volume of negative ads running this year. The battle to pass Proposition 89 isn't just an issue for Californians, fundamental reform of political money in the world's fifth largest economy will reverberate nationwide.
So please, check out the ad and if you know people who would enjoy seeing it, please drop them a quick note and ask them to check it out.
www.TimeFor89.org
If you are tired of getting squashed by tons of ads paid for by special interest money, then make this the last time special interests own your television.