By Margaret Hodson ’16, Perspectives Co Section Editor
Still an undecided voter? Maybe an analogy can help. Tom Corbett, the Republican gubernatorial candidate from Pennsylvania, is a trusted wedding dress designer— think Vera Wang or Jenny Packham. The other option is Democratic candidate/ sub-par designer Tom Wolf. His designs are overpriced, frumpy and generally unappealing. Does that clear up the whole voting issue?
Such a wedding dress analogy is the basis behind the College Republican National Committee’s latest slew of advertisements. Specifically, they parodied TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress with six Say Yes to the Candidate videos focused on the closely-contested gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Arkansas, and Florida. All six videos are very similar and start with a young, blond-haired undecided voter named Brittany. She is shopping for a wedding dress with her frazzled mother and two savvy bridesmaids. First she tries on the Tom Corbett, noting, “Budget is a big deal for me now that I just graduated from college…Tom Corbett is becoming a trusted brand. He has new ideas that don’t break your budget.” But Britney’s dress-shopping experience takes a turn for the worse when her mother Gloria picks out the Tom Wolf *Cue ominous music*. Speaking to the camera, Gloria opines, “I like the Tom Wolf. It’s overpriced and a little outdated, but I know best.” As Britney tries the Tom Wolf on for size, the saleswoman points on the additional costs: increased taxes, thousands of jobs lost, and increased unemployment. Wide-eyed with horror, the bridesmaids shake their heads in disgust while Gloria claps and screams hysterically. At this point, Jessica is extremely exasperated by the entire ordeal and declares, “But I’ll be paying this off for the rest of my life!” Her maid of honor Tiffani agrees: “We could not let her walk out of the voting booth like that!” In the end, Jessica stands up to her mother and chooses the Tom Corbett. The dramatic music is replaced with an upbeat tune and the girls celebrate with champagne but sans mom. Crisis averted.
The remaining five ads are very similar to the pro-Tom Corbett ad, but with different lists of “additional costs” for each Democratic candidate. Eying the Charlie Crist? It’ll come with $2 billion in taxes, $3.6 billion in debt, and 15% tuition increases. The Mike Schauer add-ons are higher taxes, double digit unemployment, and increased government spending.
Predictably, The College Democrats of America are not fans of their ideological opponents attempt at cultural relevance. Calling the $1 million dollar ad-campaign “out-of-touch,” The College Democrats of America said in a statement, “While Democrats are fighting to make sure young women can afford a good education, have access to healthcare including affordable birth control, get paid equally and much more, Republicans are treating women as if all they care about are dresses and reality shows.” Many journalists seem to agree. Time’s Charlotte Alter called it “The Most Sexist Republican Ad of the Year,” while Slate’s Amanda Marcotte wrote an article titled “Today in GOP Outreach to Women: You Broads Like Wedding Dresses, Right?”
To their credit, The College Republican National Committee saw the liberal backlash coming. Chair of the Committee, Mrs. Alex Smith, tweeted a picture of five young woman with the caption, “And just so we’re clear, these are the strong, talented women who wrote the @CRNC’s ‘Say Yes’ ads!” In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, she said, “It’s our goal to start the conversation by presenting ourselves in a culturally relevant way.” Many commentators noted that Democrats have also attempted to rope in young voters with “culturally relevant” ad campaigns. Michelle Malkin tweeted, “So amusing to see lib[erals] heads explode over @CRNC wedding dress ad targeting women. Same lib[erals]s gushed over @lenadunham Obama/ boyfriend ads.” Ms. Malkin is referring to the video “Your First Time [Voting],” put out by Lena Dunham just under two years ago to support President Obama’s bid for re-election.
Overall, interpretation of the ad is personal. Many of the sentiments rang very true for me—as a future college-goer, I’m also interested in issues such as job creation and student debt. I would’ve liked to hear more facts about the issues, such as the plans each candidate (or just the Republican candidate) has to decrease unemployment and student loan rates. For me, politics is already culturally relevant—no reality show parodies needed. To imply that women can only understand/relate to politics if it involves wedding gowns is just a tad demeaning. Not the mention, the average Say Yes to the Dress viewer is aged 44. How’s that for winning the vote of young women?
