OTTAWA - Cash-strapped Liberals have launched a low-budget counter-attack against pricey negative Tory ads, using humour and the Internet to mock Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Young Liberals released three English-language ads Wednesday, all parodies of the popular Apple computer commercials, which they hope to disseminate widely through their website, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and instant-messaging programs.
The federal party simultaneously posted a digital PowerPoint presentation on its website, making the case that Harper has "plagiarized'' U.S. President George W. Bush's tactics and policies.
The presentation suggests the Harper government even shares the Bush administration's taste in interior design -- a photo taken through a window in the prime minister's office building shows a 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign poster hanging on a Harper aide's wall.
The two-pronged campaign came one day after the Tories launched their fourth series of television attack ads, aimed at driving home the message that Liberal boss Stephane Dion "is not a leader.''
"We're not interested in spending millions and millions of dollars on contrived, vicious, mean-spirited television ads to attack our opponents,'' said Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, who unveiled the PowerPoint presentation.
"That's a sharp contrast to what Mr. Harper's inclined to do.''
However, the Liberals are making a virtue of necessity. Unlike the Tories, whose war chest is brimming over, the Liberals don't have the money to pay for costly television ads, negative or otherwise.
In the first quarter of 2007, the Tories raised almost $5.2 million -- 10 times more than the Liberals.
The youth ads feature a hip young woman and a geeky guy.
"Hi, I'm a Liberal,'' says the woman in the first ad.
"And I'm a PC,'' says the guy.
He goes on to explain how he used to be a PC and a Reformer and a Canadian Alliance member but is now a Conservative as the party keeps changing its brand to confuse voters.
In the second ad, the Conservative is wearing hip waders. He explains that with the $5 billion cut from climate-change programs, the Harper government can afford to give every Canadian hip waders to cope with rising sea levels. And if water levels rise above the waist, he says Tories will provide tax credits for life preservers.
In the third ad, the guy is sporting a wig, lipstick and the same blazer as the woman and claims to be a Liberal too. He tugs uncomfortably at his clothes and finally confesses: "I'm ripping it off as soon as I get a majority.''
While television ads can reach millions of viewers, the Liberals can potentially reach a wide swath of voters through the various Internet campaigns.
Youth campaign director Denise Brundson said that by mid-day Wednesday, the ads on the young Liberal website had received almost 25,000 hits.
"This is another layer of social interaction and a far cheaper method of communication than TV and radio,'' she said.
