GOP to women: elections are like shopping for wedding dresses

[sheshe2]

By Steve Benen

The Republican base tends to be older, which has forced the party to get creative when reaching out to younger voters. Earlier this year, for example, the RNC unveiled a pitch to millennials featuring a young man with ill-fitting clothes, awkwardly reading cue cards on energy policy. Last year, a Koch-financed group rolled out ads featuring someone in a creepy Uncle Sam costume with a giant head eager to perform gynecological exams.

But arguably nothing is quite as jaw-dropping as the latest Republican ad campaign targeting young women, which msnbc’s Irin Carmon described as the party’s “most condescending ad yet.”

The College Republican National Committee thinks it has unlocked the key to speaking to young women about pending gubernatorial elections: Make it about pretty wedding dresses. That’s how the party is attempting to win over a demographic it has long struggled to attract.

The committee is spending $1 million on digital ads like “Say Yes to the Candidate.” Each one show a young woman eagerly browsing wedding dresses, in the mold of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” and treating each prospective dress as if it were a real-life candidate for office.

More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-women-elections-are-shopping-wedding-dresses

Now this is just plain sick.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It IS sick.

It might appeal to older Republican women, but it most certainly will not appeal to the younger women it wants to vote for Republican men. They will see right through it as the sexist clap-trap it is.

[tanyev]

2. Finally, a political party willing to explain politics to me in a way

that my tiny and shallow female brain can understand and really relate to.

[hifiguy]

3. More proof that you just can NOT fix stupid.

[Botany]

4. Well this makes sense to me because after all the only thing women really cares about ......

.... is getting married, taking care of a man and the kids, and decorating her home for the holidays.

[sheshe2]

23. brava!

well done Botany!

[Treant]

26. I cook like Betty Crocker,

And I look like Donna Reed!

There's plastic on the furniture,
To keep it neat and clean,
In in the Pine-Sol scented air,
Somewhere that's green.

[valerief]

5. That is soooooo fucked up. "Hey, you moron young women, vote for Scott, Medicare criminal, cuz

he's like a pretty dress. He fits. He fits you so good. He fits your body like no one else. Mmm. What do you care anyway? You're just a moron. So get it on with Daddy Scott. Sugar Daddy Scott."

Yecch! Gives me the willies.

[sheshe2]

25. I hear ya valerief!

They give me the willies as well with their very unhealthy interest in our bodies. They are a bunch of perverts!

[gratuitous]

6. I watched the ad, so you don't have to

I thought it was genius, using wedding dresses as stand-ins for the candidates. The likeness of Rick Scott - or Mr. Creepy, Father of Bat-Boy - was nowhere to be seen. But other than that? Feh to the nth degree.

[hifiguy]

8. "Father of Bat-Boy" !!

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Finding one without stains could be difficult.

[liberal N proud]

9. Next, they are likely to do a barefoot and pregnant ad.

[pinboy3niner]

11. Bearfoot?

[liberal N proud]

12. Pfft

Fixing!

[Jack Rabbit]

24. Well, barefoot and pregnant is what women really want

Last edited Thu Oct 2, 2014, 08:31 PM - Edit history (1)

If you believe a four-time loser like Rush Limbaugh.

[Politicalboi]

10. Was this ad run during Jeopardy's

What women want category.

[CTyankee]

13. I truly love the "Say Yes to Rick Scott" ad...

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gops-most-condescending-ad-yet

[HockeyMom]

15. This time he has his wife in commericals for him

instead of his mother saying, "My Son is a good boy". I find it very ironic how he is so anti-woman, yet needs women to campaign for him? Not the way to win the female vote, Ricky.

[Brickbat]

14. I actually kind of love this ad because it's so bad.

[CTyankee]

16. It reassures me that they're so stupid, we look good...

no wonder they have to suppress voting...

[pinboy3niner]

17. Don't worry...

...the GOP has binders full of these ads. BINDERS FULL!

[Bettie]

18. Wow...yeah because that's all we ever think about

We girls with our girl brains, all we can think about is which dress we want and what shoes to wear with it.

And they wonder why they are not making significant inroads with women.

DUH.

[Iliyah]

19. When I first saw the video it reminded me of that

Gremlin two movie.

[Initech]

20. They really are stupid and clueless. And they failed marketing at that.

[Dont call me Shirley]

21. Whoa! The symbology of the popping of the cork at the end reminiscent of the popping of the...

OMG!

I wonder what the producers, cast and staff on the real "Say Yes To The Dress" have to say about this cheesy GOP ad!

[Rex]

22. "Republicans are people too."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/republicans-are-people-too-stock-photo

"Conservatives wanted to remind people that "Republicans Are People Too" with an ad campaign insisting that Republicans recycle and have tattoos.

But as The Daily Banter pointed out, the woman the ad used to prove that "Republicans are black" is actually a very popular stock photo."



Republicans are RACIST/SEXIST CLOWNS. PROVEN FACT.

[wheniwasincongress]

29. "Republicans have tattoos and beards"

this one is stretching. a lot.

[wheniwasincongress]

27. I loved the irony of the

Uncle Sam ad. they don't get it.

[whistler162]

28. Cost a ton of money, likely won't

fit when needed, and only useful once?

[KittyWampus]

33. Twice- throw a bucket of red paint on it and use it for Halloween.

[Veilex]

30. Ugh!

I wonder if this is the lead off in the full-frontal-ad-assault the Kochs promised.

[Moonwalk]

31. I dunno...“Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public..."

—as P.T. Barnum said. I mean, Rick Scott and these others got voted in because they appeal to not-so-smart people, women as well as men. Perhaps these ads are the way to go given that they're a twist on reality shows that such people watch and love. Ones all about appearance; about getting what one wants in the here and now, with no thought to how it will affect their future.

While clearly a joke (and an insulting one for any woman with a brain), they do the trick of making the voting choice seem simple and a no-brainer (pretty dress = Rick Scott, ugly = other guy) and come across as being on the side of young, know-what-they-want women rather than the moms who lack taste and don't understand their daughters. Which is to say: No, these won't work on smart young women. And foolish young women probably won't vote anyway. But our society still does make a lot of young women dream about their wedding day and that perfect dress. And there are undecided young female voters who might, sadly, be swayed by this either because it's a humorous take on reality shows they love, or in the fact that it is about wedding dresses rather than actual, complicated issues that they don't want to think about. When they go to vote, they might well remember Rick Scott's name simply because it has been associated with a pretty wedding dress as if it he were a designer rather than a politician.

And that's all some voters need. A way to remember one candidate over another. I hope with all my heart that I'm wrong, and that young female voters are smart and will see these ads for the insult they are and backlash big against them. But I can't help but fear that what seems obvious to us may not be so obvious to the target audience.

[KittyWampus]

32. Say "Yes" to the dress.

[Monk06]

34. Republicans appealing to women is like Lawrence Welk covering Velvet Underground.

Creepy but strangely fascinating.

[DeadLetterOffice]

35. Say "hell no" to the GOP...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

36. Message: Vote Republican and you'll get fucked.