The Summer of Discontent – A Caption Contest!

 

Riding in an over-crowded and under-airconditioned subway this morning, I realized that state and city budget cuts, combined with persistent high unemployment are making for an American version of Britain’s 1978 “Winter of Discontent,” which produced this brilliant, game-changing poster by Saatchi and Saatchi.

This poster helped propel the Tories to power (Claire: back me up here). It’s hard to beat “Labor isn’t working,” but let’s try. How about pictures of unemployed workers with the caption “Congress Isn’t Working, Either.” Or maybe Obama on a golf course (“Obama Isn’t Working.”) Or pictures of idled oil rigs with the caption “Your Tax Dollars At Work.”

I’m sure the rest of you can do better – bring it on!

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  1. Profile Photo Contributor
    @RobLong

    Maybe for an after-9 PM spot?

    capt.120448e16df1430e81d4bd78421faaf9-120448e16df1430e81d4bd78421faaf9-0.jpg

    • #1
  2. Profile Photo Member
    @

    How about:

    Unemployment Rate in Washington, DC: 5.9%

    Unemployment Rate Nationwide: 9.7%

    Inelegant but motivating?

    • #2
  3. Profile Photo Member
    @Claire

    Yes, yes, I back you up. A document strategists might want to think about is John Hoskyns’ ”Stepping Stones,” which was the blueprint for the Thatcher Revolution. Some key lines:

    The objective is to persuade the electorate that they must consciously and finally reject socialism at the next election . . . Before voters will do this they must feel:

    a) A deep moral disgust with the Labour-Trades Union alliance and its results—the “sick society.” (Disappointment with the material results is not enough.)

    b) A strong desire for something better—the “healthy society.” (The hope of better material results is not enough.)

    As Hoskyns notes,

    Relative decline makes little impact on ordinary people until it has gone so far that it is almost too late . . . We therefore [suggest] that the key to changing attitudes would be people’s emotional feelings, especially anger or disgust at socialism and union behavior.

    • #3
  4. Profile Photo Member
    @

    “Irrational Exuberance”

    • #4
  5. Profile Photo Inactive
    @Karen

    How about a shot of a long unemployment line that says, “They don’t want change, they want a paycheck.”

    • #5
  6. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Stimulus isn’t working.

    • #6
  7. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MorituriTe

    Expanding on an earlier thought: How about a video spot that shows a sequence of still images of the White House and the Capitol, photoshopped to add graffiti, broken windows, and garbage. Each tag would refer to a different Democrat failure:

    • Stimulus!
    • Economic failure!
    • Massive Debt!
    • Obamacare!
    • Gulf Oil Spills Forever!
    • General Motors Takeover!
    • Bow to Dictators!
    • Favors to Union Cronies!
    • Sell Out Israel!
    • Do nothing about Iranian nukes!
    • Miranda rights for terrorists!
    • KSM Trial NOW!
    • High Unemployment Spreads the Wealth Around!
    • Don’t be a smartass: Shut Up and Pay Your Taxes!

    etc., etc. After a little while of this, the tag line(s) would come up:

    Want your country back? Then take it back!

    Vote for real change on November 2nd.

    • #7
  8. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MorituriTe

    (I should clarify that by “tag”, I meant the text of the graffiti photoshopped into the images.)

    • #8
  9. Profile Photo Member
    @AdamFreedman

    Now we’re cooking – keep ’em coming!

    Daniel: all terrifying, and true. So much material! To paraphrase one of Mr. Long’s earlier posts, how can the GOP screw this up?

    • #9
  10. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MNJohnnie

    Big picture of Obama on the golf course.

    “A laser like focus on jobs” or “Your Government working hard for you

    • #10
  11. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MelFoil

    More Tea, Less Kool-Aid

    http://i47.tinypic.com/os6e83.jpg

    • #11
  12. Profile Photo Inactive
    @rr

    See Rob’s picture at top:

    “How will we pull up the economy when we can barely pull up our pants?”

    • #12
  13. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Movies:

    Dawn of the Debt

    Night of the Living Debt

    Raiders of the Last Marque

    Knight and Prey

    Wreck Forever

    Cloudy with a Chance of Downfall

    A Czar is Born

    I’ll stop now.

    • #13
  14. Profile Photo Member
    @CharlesAllen

    This appears to be along the lines of Adam’s thinking.

    Congress isn’t working

    Obama isn’t working

    The Stimulus isn’t working

    I think the RNC needs to unclench a little, and run a youtube based ad contest….

    • #14
  15. Profile Photo Member
    @ScottR

    Co-opt the Uncle Sam image with a variety of captions:

    “I’m your uncle, not your mommy”

    “I’m still not stimulated”

    “Now I’m unemployed AND broke”

    • #15
  16. Profile Photo Member
    @Claire

    “I’m your uncle, not your mommy,” is excellent.

    • #16
  17. Profile Photo Member
    @CharlesAllen

    I want you to stop whining

    • #17
  18. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MatthewGilley

    The President won’t pay this debt.

    Congress won’t pay this debt.

    You may not pay this debt.

    <<INSERT PICTURE OF YOUNG CHILD>>

    But she’ll have to.

    • #18
  19. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Golf ones:

    “Putz putts.”

    “You want to thrive? I’d rather drive.”

    “Tar or par?”

    “I only care about eagles on my scorecard.”

    (To Barney Frank) “No queens on the greens.”

    “The only flags I care to see are the ones on the course.”

    I could do this all day.

    • #19
  20. Profile Photo Inactive
    @lysdexic

    Soo, is this supposed to be about truth or power?

    The oil rigs that were shut down number 25-33. Out of the nearly 4,000 there now? We’re not doing anybody any favors with histrionics.

    The Charles Allen ones look promising.

    • #20
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