Something bothered me about the main image in the negative campaign ad out earlier this week entitled "Troops." (Over and above the fact that it was a lying ad trashing Barack Obama – again,) There are many, many things wrong with this ad. But something in particular was nagging at me. It didn't take me long to put my finger on this very subtle subliminal.
Please follow me over the jump...
I pondered it, wondering if I was being way to paranoid, then today I pulled a friend aside and asked him to tell me what was wrong with the main image in this video.
"Troops"
Almost right away my friend said ... "It looks like he's sporting 2 Super Bowl rings." "Wearing some bling!" EXACTLY! I said.
"What is that?" he said.
There, I wasn't imagining it.
Then my friend chuckled saying, "Well, he's a little too skinny to suggest he could be a football player."
Then feeling a little confident, I suggested – "Yeah, but ... how about a rapper?"
I mean an African American, with a microphone, and some bling. Or an NBA star ... I mean pick your stereotype and fill in the blank.
Now, I’ll admit, perhaps it’s a stretch. Certainly, my initial reaction was to think that it was just a really sloppy crop job on the image and someone just didn’t take the time to put the background fill in those particular spots and given how fast the McCain camp is churning out this trash that wouldn’t be surprising.
Sloppy image editing or subliminal messaging?