Video: Ron Paul Is Your New Pickup Truck


Libertarian presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is taking to the airwaves with a “fun and energetic” new ad that’s heavy on graphic animation…and gumption. The spot—titled “Big Dog”—is laden with so much lush, manly word salad that NPR’s calling it one of the “coolest commercials” of the season. “What’s up with these sorry politicians?” the ad’s gravely narrator growls. “Lots of bark, but when it’s showtime? Whimpering like little shih tzus. You want BIG CUTS? Ron Paul’s been screaming it FOR YEARS!”

Take a look:

Original, no? Actually, no. If you’ve watched any football on TV since the middle of 2008 NFL season, you’ve seen something like this:

That’s Denis “No Cure For Cancer” Leary doing a voiceover for Ford pickup trucks. Seems like Paul’s campaign is trying to appeal to the same demographic targeted by Ford when it went after “core truckers” who are into “football, NASCAR, pro bull riding, or country music.” Bloomberg Businessweek ID’d those consumers less flatteringly as “‘image’ buyers…folks who are weekend warriors/Home Depot shoppers who liked the idea of a pickup when gas was $1.50 per gallon.” The political analog for Ford’s “image” buyer, I suppose, are folks who occasionally follow politics and liked the idea of Atlas Shrugged when their college tuition was being covered by government loans. If you’re male, youngish, into proving that you’re male and youngish, and a sucker for ads that suggest you’d never be a sucker for ads, then Ford wants to be your truck, and Ron Paul wants to be your candidate.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate