Defining this year’s greatest in commercial cinema
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
With the federal election over, either Stephen Harper is still our prime minister, or we have a new one.
The election was decided by the TV commercials put out by the major parties, and I saw most of them during the last few weeks of the campaign. For your pleasure I have reviewed each of them, in the case you might like to go back and watch all your old favourites.
Conservative Party—Proven Leadership
IMDB: 57 per cent
Rotten Tomatoes: 45 per cent
This Conservative Party commercial explains all of the accomplishments that Harper made as Prime Minister. Harper looked like a capable Prime Minister, despite a lot of people disliking him during the campaign. The music in it brings colour and life into a day of the Prime Minister working in his office.
NDP—“I’m Ready”
IMDB: 65 per cent
Rotten Tomatoes: 74 per cent
While many people know Tom Mulcair as a person who asks a lot of tough questions, he is also a family man, and we see that in this commercial. We see archival pictures and footage of Mulcair throughout the years, including a rare picture of him without a beard. The commercial shows that he is a likeable person who likes to do public service a lot. Also, he was great at showing that he has plenty of experience and he is ready for whatever adventure.
Liberal Party—Out of Touch
IMDB: 55 per cent
Rotten Tomatoes: 63 per cent
The middle class is one of the topics in the election this year and the Liberal Party caused a lot of people to talk about them. In this commercial, Justin Trudeau compares Stephen Harper’s plan for the middle class with his party’s plans for them. The beginning of it looked like a scene in a Michael Moore documentary, except that Trudeau does not sound funny. The second half is bright and it has a lot of colours. His plan looks appealing and it very well could benefit the middle class; a teaser trailer if there ever was one.
Conservative Party—The Interview
IMDB: 72 per cent
Rotten Tomatoes: 84 per cent
One of the most famous commercials in this election is the commercial in which various job recruiters try to find a person who could be prime minister. When they look at Trudeau’s résumé, they make assumptions about him that may not be true, and they state that they think he is “just not ready.” The star of the commercial is the person who said the line: “Nice hairdo.” The commercial was so good that the NDP made a similar commercial that talks about Stephen Harper—such a work of cinematic genius, that it spawned a remake.
Liberal Party—Escalator: Harder to Get Ahead
IMDB: 85 per cent
Rotten Tomatoes: 92 per cent
Justin Trudeau is great at walking up escalators, and his skills are shown in this commercial. In it, Justin talks about tax cuts and cuts to funding of government programs while he walks up an escalator that is going down. When the elevator goes up, he talks about his plan. This is a great use of metaphor to really get the audience thinking. He was great at walking up the escalator and talking about his plan at the same time, and it was rumoured that Justin did all of his own stunt work.
