Just where does Labour get its publicity people from?!?!?!

I've now had the chance to see Dave the Chameleon, a little cartoon that is Not So Very New Labour's pathetic excuse for a party election broadcast. And I have to wonder where on earth did Labour recruit the people who came up with this?

Let's get a core inaccuracy to one side first. As CashFromThinAir summarises:

As the NL divs don't seem to have an education, they won't know that chameleons don't change their colour to fit their surroundings as much as to reflect mood, the joke is technically a flat one too.

Let's look for a moment at some of the hypocrisy in this advert. It begins by attacking David Cameron for having gone to a public school, a line that seems to be a rather common Labour substitute for serious political argument. Having had the misfortune to briefly go to one myself (quite a horrible experience but more on that another time) I know all too well that virtually no public school pupil actually chooses whether or not they are registered for one. No baby gets up and says "Don't put me down on the list for a public school, I don't want it to affect me when I have a political career." If the Labour publicity department had a clue they could have checked this one out. They could have asked a former public school boy. Like Tony Blair.

Or should that be "Anthony Blair"? The film made the point about people calling Cameron "Dave" occasionally. Yet Blair has shortened his given name permanently! Now I personally don't think there's anything wrong with that (as my own URL shows!) but clearly the Labour publicity department does. Did they check this one with Blair?

But for a "Party Election Broadcast" for the local elections there was absolutely nothing about the local elections in them! Not one reason given for voting to have Labour run town halls on May 4th. As noted on this blog before, this isn't in anyone's real interest and can only help contribute to a pathetic turnout. There are Labour members who have made positive cases for voting for that party in May - see Take back the voice's general muses for one. But the central Labour Party doesn't seem to have any of this.

A few years ago I read for and graduated with a Masters of Art in Propaganda, Persuasion and History from the University of Kent. If anyone is looking for a new set of publicity people, I'd like to apply!