Humor Brings Relief From Attack Ads
In the only political commercial these days with an intended dash of humor, “Angus McClintock,” the tightwad Scottish pitchman for state controller candidate Tom McClintock, is moving to television.
A series of 15-second spots features Angus, a fictional cousin of the Republican nominee, promoting McClintock as the most tight-fisted candidate on the political circuit.
In one ad, Angus starts a timer and says he only needs 15 seconds to portray McClintock as the thrifty candidate for state controller. Angus completes his pitch in nine seconds, finds he has six seconds left and calls off camera for credit for the unused time.
McClintock’s low-budget campaign in his race against Democrat Kathleen Connell first used the Angus character in radio commercials, but was unable to buy time in major broadcast markets because stations wanted to charge their regular rates instead of the discounted rates for political advertisers.
Aides said the McClintock campaign moved up to TV by buying $100,000 worth of advertising time in the Los Angeles market.
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