The Martlet

Political campaigns can feel like the Cold War all over again. Both sides have malicious advertisements and slanderous facts tucked away, and they’re always ready to push that shiny red button to descend their well thought out slogans and policies into negativity.

This year is no exception. Not long after parliament was dissolved at Stephen Harper’s request, the jabs began – first at the expense of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

Harper wasted no time ripping Dion’s image to shreds, even after stating that he “saw no reason to go personal and nasty against other leaders.”

His attack began with the launch of NotALeader.ca, a website dedicated to highlighting Dion’s flaws.

“A Stéphane Dion led Liberal government would embarrass Canada. Period,” claims the site. Along with more derogatory statements, viewers can access programs intended to poke fun at Dion, including a “Dion Excuse Generator” and an “Inaction Figure” of Dion himself.

At the website’s launch, a video advertisement was featured on the home page and was pulled just as fast as it was released. The short animation featured a picture of Dion shrugging foolishly and being defecated on by a passing puffin. The advertisement was altered to exclude the pooping and an apology was issued by Harper himself.

“[The video] has been removed, and my apologies for having it up,” said Harper in a statement.

According to Dion, who accepted the apology, the animation “says more about [the Conservatives] than it does about us.”

The Liberals are no stranger to negative advertising campaigns either. Liberal.ca contains several anti-Conservative facts. Every day, dating back to Sept. 7, they have discovered a broken promise made by the Conservatives, and each is posted as their “Broken Platform Promise of the Day.”

In the United States, John McCain and Barack Obama have also unleashed their negative campaigns. Interestingly enough, left-leaning Obama seems to be taking it easy on McCain, whereas the more right-wing Republican Party has let loose on Obama, comparing his fame to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

This pattern mirrors that of Canada, where right-winged Harper is hitting his opponent wherever it hurts. Does this make McCain and Harper look petty, and does it affect how people feel about each leader as a person? While voters will often say that negative advertising is weak and only hurts the issuing party, many experts take a different stance.

Mark J. Penn, a previous adviser to both Bill and Hillary Clinton throughout their campaigns, reports in an online article that he believes negative advertising is a key to campaign success, whether voters realize it or not.

“The tactic [of negative advertising] meets with media and pundit disapproval and spawns accusations of negativity, but the reality is that a clever negative ad can be devastatingly effective,” said Penn.

Penn and his colleagues designed a study to prove this. After being shown advertisements in busy, public places, subjects were taken and interviewed privately, in an atmosphere “where they let their hair down” and spoke candidly. Many voters admitted that the negative ads swayed their choices.

Using the United States as a model, can we predict the outcome of Canada’s 2008 election? Whether the savagely negative advertisements used by the Conservatives prevail, or whether Dion and his Liberals manage to pull off a win using a milder form of the same tactic will become clear as Oct. 14 approaches.