First of all, if you have to tell America that you are, in fact, people, too, isn’t that a bad sign?
A new GOP messaging campaign has hit social media. Calling itself Republicans Are People Too, the group has taken up the banner of reminding us all that Republicans come “from all walks of life” and “are regularly called names and talked about in terms normally reserved for terrorist and thugs.” This social-media campaign is meant to “encourage more civil discourse,” 389 people “Like” the page so far. One is me. For perspective, Adolf Hitler’s page has more than 260,000 likes, but it is early for the Republicans Are People Too page.
But never mind all that. Finally, someone is speaking out on all that bullying of white, middle-class conservative suburbanites. Good for them for fighting the good fight.
The problem, though? Apparently, most Americans see the GOP as mean, out of touch, vindictive, spiteful, anti-science and anti-environment. Where on earth would people get these ideas? Where. On. Earth? And you know what helps turn around public opinion? Stock photos and lame music! Watch the whole video here:
The video is a litany of things that are, I guess, reserved for liberals, things like using computers and reading newspapers. But my favorite part is when the video states that “Republicans are white. Republicans are black. Republicans are Hispanic. Republicans are Asian …” That struck me as ranking in order of importance. I just wish it had ended with a person of unidentifiable origins with the tagline “Republicans are miscellaneous.” The campaign was created by Vinny Minchillo, formerly one of the “mad men” responsible for those memorable Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign ads. Before that, Minchillo made ads for JCPenney, which explains a lot about the video above.
Minchillo told the New Republic that “people, I’m afraid, think that Republicans spend their days huddling over a boiling cauldron throwing in locks of Ronald Reagan’s hair. We thought let’s get out there and show who Republicans really are: regular folks interested in making the world a better place.” But still, while all the fuss? Besides silly and unnecessary, many have called the ad defensive. Or, as New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait succinctly put it, “It’s just always suspicious when somebody strenuously denies an accusation that has not been made.”
Besides the Facebook page, there’s a Twitter account for the group, too. Both sites are asking for Republicans out there to take photos of themselves holding up signs that boast their un-Republican behavior.
Yeah, this will end well.
Brock Thompson is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine.
