What is the 2009 equivalent of Labour isn't working?

The Conservatives will win an early election if they can convince the British people that Labour's borrowing is irresponsible. Although speeches, telephone number statistics and op-eds are essential parts of the persuasion process the most decisive political victories have also been associated with iconic images that resonate with the public.

In 1979, Labour's record on jobs was captured by Saatchi & Saatchi's Labour isn't working poster:

In 1992, voter worries about Labour's tax plans were solidified by the tax bombshell campaign:

We now need something for Gordon Brown's debts.  What should it be?  It could be a poster or it could be a short YouTube.  Here are two inspirations for you:

If we can get some good ideas on this thread ConHome will translate one of them into 'the real thing'...

Comments

[Peter O]

Or failing that Felicity, this should work.

[Timforchange - Theblueroomforum.com]

BROWN HAS BROKEN BRITAIN

Clips of footage of Cool Britannia in 1997. Spice Girls, Oasis, Austin Powers, Kate Moss - take your pick.

Graphic: 1997
VO: In 1997 Labour promised change.
Clips of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown grinning and making promises.

VO: Labour HAS changed Britain.

Clips of various policy failures and examples of government incompetency (too many, too much to list in detail here) on Multilculturalism, Education, PFI, Pensions, Defence. etc.

VO & Graphic: Labour has BROKEN Britain.

VO: Let's make it better, Vote Conservative.

[Peter O]

Tim,

Spam versus my cute son? How can Reuben fail to win?????

[Matt]

Something around a 'Crash Gordon' theme...

[The Bishop Swine]

Labour the slow death of a great nation.

Isn't it just like labour to squander the savings of the nation.

Credit Boom
Credit Bust
Credit refused.

Your Pensions are safe with Labour, they are part of the deficit.
Safely spent.

The Welfare State from Cradle to grave; debt.

Labours great experiment with money; debt.

Labour is digging us in; for a deep recession.

Nightmare economics from sleepwalking Labour.

[David T Breaker]

PeterO, I forgot to mention that by pure coincidence the couple who go into the spam Cafe La Bour have a baby with them called Reuben! :-)

Customer: What's Spam Surprise?
Brown: The surprise is there's more of it than first thought.
Customer: Why is there more?
Brown: Well you've heard of off-balance sheet accounting, this is off table sheet cooking.
Customer: Whar does it tasre of? Is it suitable for me, I'm on a diet.
Brown: Well it tastes good to start with, gives you a real fiscal stimulus, but you might choke on the aftertaste. And as they say, a moment on the VAT, a lifetime on the National Insurance.

[Angelo Basu]

"So I take it we've decided the British people want us to go negative?"

We'll see in 2010 or whenever. Both the 1979 and 1992 ads were negative and successful.

[Votedave]

LABOUR BORROWS, THEN THEY SPEND

THEN THEY TAX (in red, put tax in huge letters)

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - VOTE CONSERVATIVE. (in blue)

[pp]

Two more...

1) A spoof spendaholics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t793

2) A spoof 'psyco-analyst' report on his self-mutilating, insecure, spendaholic behavior.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/7663563.stm

Oh... you can certainly cut the 'spoof' from the second one - and probably the first...

[TomTom]

In 1997 it was a different country

- Pension Funds were solvent

- Houses were affordable

- Crime was lower

- People felt free

- The Pound had value

- It was OUR country

[TomTom]

In 1997 it was a different country

- Pension Funds were solvent

- Houses were affordable

- Crime was lower

- People felt free

- The Pound had value

- It was OUR country

[Votedave]

LABOUR BRITAIN - A COUNTRY DEPENDENT ON DEBT

CONSERVATIVE BRITAIN - LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS

[David Belchamber]

Can a country actually go bust?

If you vote labour, you will find out.

[Hugo]

Labour spending is for life, not just for Christmas

[Hugo]

Labour. A moment in the med, a lifetime in the red.

[Dorian the Englandism]

Labour: Buy the present, sell the future.

Or for a thespian target audience:

Loves. Labour's Lost.

[Hugo]

You thought you had problems with debt? Think of your granchildren. Vote Conservative.

[Peter O]

David Breaker, I'm glad to see you accept the necessity of a "must include Reuben at all costs" solution to the problem. I will tell him his future acting career has been protected...

[B.Garvie]

Labour's record is the longest suicide note in history.

Labour have lied,Labour are lying and Labour will lie.

We are all going down with Gordon Brown.

Labour: More tax, stealth tax and death tax.

Labour's record is an epitaph to stupidity.

Run by Labour, done by Labour.

Labour are run by Champagne Socialists.

Labour doesn't care.

Labour pretends to work.

Labour tell lies.

Labour robbed pensioners.

Labour ruined our pensions, ruined our savings and ruined our lives.

[Alastair Stewart]

Shot of a couple going into a Bank. They say at the counter "You asked us to come in and discuss our borrowing".

Bank person sits them down at a desk and discusses their pro rata share of national debt.

As they start to speak, bank person interrupts. Instead of asking them how they are going to repay it, bank person tells them that the loan WILL be repaid over x years by taking £££ out of their monthly pay (tax/NI increases), by an additional surcharge on their shopping bill (VAT/fuel duty) and by reducing the amount they earn on their savings (reduced interest rates).

Closes with bank person saying, "This does of course mean you'll have about £ x less money each year to spend on things that you'd like to buy for yourselves...". Couple look dismal.

Spoken message "The money's gone. Labour's spent it. Now its mortgaged your future as well. "

Strapline - Labour. Britain just can't afford it.

[Stuart Crow]

Something along the lines of "Labour's house of cards" - the cards being credit cards.

Not the easiest concept to turn into imagery, perhaps, but a slogan that can lead into a narrative about housing and credit - and sudden collapse.

[Noel]

A picture of Gordon Brown with a open box from Deal or No Deal and the predicted national debt per person as the sum of money inside the box.

With the slogan "No Deal"

Get Noel Edmonds onside and you've got a winner.

[Ben Archibald]

The arty one done by Channel 4 with the Bent soundtrack was fantastic, and really worked for me. Something not dissimilar would hit well, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF2XfCXeZC0

Obviously expurgate the nastier bits, and replace with something economy-y.

[Stuart M]

How about a video of a man jogging along.

People start coming up to him and hanging large weight around his neck marked - labour debt, inefficient public services, high taxes etc.

Eventually the man grinds to a halt and collapses under the weight.

[Matt Wright]

Some of the video ideas are extremely powerful but perhap we do need to consider whether being solely negative is the right approach. Maybe we could start with some of the images mentioned, the weight of debt, the things that have gone wrong but then the clever bit would be to say how we believe in the people of Britain. The images would change as the people fought back. Be quite patriotic and moving and end on a strong positive. Lifting the weight of debt, being honest with people, believing in the ingenuity and the strength of the British people. Final strapline could be one of the following:

Broken Britain or Great Britain.
Labour taxes or time for a change.
Time for a Change.
Making Britain great again.
Labour have done it again! Time for a change.
We can make change happen.
Together, Forward.

[DougR]

New Labour isn't working

[Richard Carey]

I agree with Matt above that we can't be entirely negative, but I don't think we're talking about this being a sole thread of campaigning, but probably a secondary attack ad through surrogates like ConHome.

So on the borrowing message, how about something resembling the Government anti-binge-drinking adverts.

Man in pub being coaxed by barman, "C'mon, have one more for the road, it's all right, the boss says it's on the house". The pump is clearly marked "Borrowing Brown" and we're shown glasses filling up with money, not beer. Voice-over "Gordon Brown is on a borrowing binge...".

Cut to street outside showing youngster fast asleep in shop doorway (Obviously need to be very careful with the tone of this part). Their pockets are clearly turned out, and a broken piggy-bank lies beside them.

VO:"... but your children will be the ones left with the hangover tomorrow."

Probably pretty poor, but just another idea!

[James]

Regarding negative vs positive, absolutely right.

Remember Labour's ad that plagiarised Its a WOnderful Life?

The man who in the taxi who didn't get to vote because he's spend all day in A&E with his son, talking abou how awful the country apparnetly was. At the end the taxi driver dropped him at the polling booth, which was miraculously open again - he was some sort of an angel, and the man now had the opportunity to vote for a better future etc.

It was very well done.

Many of the good ideas above, which are quite negative, could be made to work better with an uplifting ending saying that there is still hope etc, like that one did.

[Hugo]

Labour spending is for life, not just for Christmas.

Labour. A moment in the Med, a lifetime in the red.

[Opinicus]

What about "This is your life"?
Chance to bring up interviews with many friends talking about aspects of his life; quotes and archive footage from Mandelson and Campbell and Clarke. Any number of scandals all sarcastic/tongue in cheek, a real negative hatchet job, finishing on the German foreign minister on the debt crisis and Graeme Archer's excellent strapline "Say what you like about Gordon Britain will be forever in his debts..." - spoken full face by DC ...."unless you vote Conservative"

Is Michael Aspell a Conservative or in want of a Knighthood?

[Opinicus]

I also really like the Downfall parodies, if we could sort out the copyright issue. A mainstream one as a PPB would need less profanity but they are very powerful as propaganda. Ridicule is the weapon.

[anon]

Background of dole line, Woolworths sign, maxed out credit card, old fashioned scales wieghed down on one side with debt etc etc. Foreground picture Brown's face (complete with idiotic grin) and the slogan "Gordon Brown isn't working"

[anon]

That should be weighed!

[Nicolson]

For a poster....

[This time] Labour IS WORKING...

.......Until you drop!

Under Browns Labour millions of us can no longer afford to retire.

Sub text. Over the last 11 years Brown has single-handedly 1. Destroyed the UK's private pensions, 2. Reduced the value of retirement nest-eggs 3. Created an unfathomable system of means-tested benefits, which is stacked against those who have contributed most during their working lives etc etc.

[James]

Much as I love the Gordon Brown Downfall parodies, and I think they make great virals, I think we'd get caned if we overtly alikened Brown to Hitler ina PPB!

[M.Clarke]

The Biggest Single Cost To British Industry Is LABOUR!

Show a picture of a closed down factory and a picture of Gormless Brown with that stupid suug grin on his face!!!

[Eddie Clements]

Poster.

A picture of a baby sitting on floor, crying it's eyes out.

On foreground in front, a smashed piggy bank.

Large headline slogan: Who'll pay Britain's debts?

Smaller strapline: Crash Gordon's Bankrupting Britain.

[M.Clarke]

Buy Now.......Pay Later

But at what Price

You'll find out if you vote LABOUR

[M.Clarke]

Would you gamble away YOUR HOME
YOUR JOB
YOUR CAR
YOUR LIFE SAVINGS
YOUR PENSION
YOUR FUTURE
YOUR FAMILIES FUTURE
ALL IN ONE GO!

That is what you will do if you vote LABOUR

Remember...another word for PRUDENCE is CONSERVATIVE!

[M.Clarke]

WORK HARD

PAY LABOUR

ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE!

VOTE CONSERVATIVE

[M.Clarke]

COMMITED NO CRIME?

THEN WHY DO YOU WANT TO SERVE UP ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF HARD LABOUR?

DON'T PUNISH THE INNOCENT

[M.Clarke]

It's Time To Be Conservative with more than just your houshold spending!

[M.Clarke]

BROWN FIDDLED WHILE THE ECONOMY BURNED!

[M.Clarke]

Have an FBI style poster with Britains most UNWANTED PEOPLE, featuring pictures of Brown and his Cabinet and listing their failures
(w0uld have to be a big poster to fit them all in)

[David T Breaker]

I think comedy is key, especially in this case as we're talking about an unofficial video as we want it to be viral on the Internet - hence my idea of Spam Debt. We have to make something that the non-politically minded will want to watch, email to friends, and just happens to carry the anti-Brown anti-debt message as a kind of subtext almost. We want people to watch, laugh, find it funny and think "Yeah all this debt is bad and that's all Brown offers" - and then realise it's a Pro-Conservative advert at the end, in much the same way the Skoda Cake commercial intrigued viewers, lead them in, then revealed the decent looking car was a Skoda. Politics in general is the Skoda I add, not the Conservatives!

Anything too openly political or too personal in a non-comedy way won't get forwarded. We should leave that to official adverts.

[The Bishop Swine]

"Would you gamble away YOUR HOME
YOUR JOB
YOUR CAR
YOUR LIFE SAVINGS
YOUR PENSION
YOUR FUTURE
YOUR FAMILIES FUTURE
ALL IN ONE GO!

That is what you will do if you vote LABOUR

Remember...another word for PRUDENCE is CONSERVATIVE!"

Good idea !! I like the gambling theme.

Gordon Brown is gambling with our futures.

The British Economy has now been gambled on a massive derivative trade. If Gordon gets it wrong (which is likely) the nation will be bankrupted.

[Steve]

Labour is working...

...for the EU.

[Susan]

"We owe you"

[Susan]

Or, how about, "Dear Labour Party, IOU ... !
and then whatever the debt per household is, with an automated ticker in Trafalgar Square?

[steve]

http://www.abload.de/img/labourisworkingforeu50f.jpg

[The Bishop Swine]

Labours plan for the welfare state,

Smash Pensions making the old dependant

Smash Employment making those of working age dependant.

Employ Millions in jobs directly funded by government making many more dependants.

From the cradle to the grave dependency.

[Susan]

They've done it before but this time ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4QxDo6RZh0
it's more than one step too far.

[Susan]

How about:

We've been here before.

Don't go there again.

(I really must get a life but what chance of that under this govt?)

[The Bishops wife]

£7.45 an hour is to much for a hard pressed mother working hard in London. Yvette Cooper thinks, but the supreme Leader has very deep pockets indeed when its a Bank.

Labour dishonest and corrupted.

Even the sheep think Labour is baaad.

[M.Clarke]

How about a man at a cassino,
He goes to the roulette wheel
He puts down his pay packet,
his pension policy,
the deeds to his house,
the keys to his car,
the family savings
and his kids piggy banks

then he says to the croupier

PUT IT ALL ON NUMBER 10!!

The wheel spins and the ball goes in
and he looses!

Then the caption comes up

DON'T GAMBLE IT ALL AWAY
THIS TIME VOTE CONSERVATIVE!

[M.Clarke]

Show Labours Promisesover a backdrop of the realities and the music played should be shattered dreams by Johny hates Jazz!

[b.gARVIE]

LABOUR MUST APOLOGISE.

LABOUR'S DEBTS are YOUR DEBTS.

LABOUR'S LOST TRUST.

LABOUR LOSES TRUST.

LABOUR'S DEBT BURDEN.

LABOUR ISN'T TRUTHFUL.

LABOUR LIES.

LABOUR WRECKS LIVES.

LABOUR ISN'T FIT FOR PURPOSE.

LABOUR RACKETEER.

LABOUR'S WRECKAGE.

LABOUR VICTIMIZATION.

LABOUR DOESN'T VALUE

LABOUR DOESN'T CARE.

LOSE WITH LABOUR.

LABOUR LOST PENSIONS, LOST SAVINGS AND LOST COUNTRY.

[pp]

How about a tune?

Title:
"There is nothing that you could say to me now that I could ever believe."

The title gives the main hook, then the beat in the backgorund could be based on "boom and bust, boom and bust an end to boom and bust" (ensuring it doesn't end up as 'another one bites the dust'!).

Over the top various sampled loops of some of the other 'not quite' lies (broken commitments?) that labour have inflicted on us?

- No income tax increase
- A referendum on europe
- etc...

Do it really quick, make it a bit christmassy, get to number 1, send me the royalties!

[Steve Foley]

How about this?

Advert starts with "Things can only get better" playing in the background first shot a Triumphant Blair on steps of No 10 in 1997. Stills then flash on screen showing the various crises which have occurred since such as Brown selling off Gold Reserves against graph of gold price then and now, Northern Rock, Banks being bailed out, Woolworths and MFI etc closing, graph of rising Unemployment figures, Pound in free-fall against Euro and US Dollar. As final scene head shot of dour faced Brown against a red background cross-fades to blue with head shot of smiling Cameron with slogan "Tory this Time!"

[Alex G Briggs]

After 18 years of planning.Eleven years of "Truth Economy".He gave us Bankrupt Britain.An Eastern Bloc is all we've got.

Gold & Pensions have we none.Stealth Taxes amount to a large sum.Next it will be your own Homes.How much have you left to pay his ever growing loans.

Brown was never elected leader of party or Country.Our Gold he sold.We are left in the Cold.A vote for Brown will take us further down

[Norm Brainer]

As final scene head shot of dour faced Brown

As much as some people hate him I think a shot to the head might be a bit much :)

[Peter Thurgood]

Vote for Brown, get Mandleson

Vote for Labour, get the EU

Think carefully when you vote, under Labour, it could be your last time

[peter]

Eor a poster pick the most nauseating smile where Brown manages to quizzically rearrange his features, then showing just his head put above it, 'WE lABOUR' then underneath 'THEY PARTY'. Show the government debt below that in big figures(maybe include some party poppers going off). Include the website for the Conservatives home page(or yours) then on there the same poster. A statistic counter below which could show the amount of cost that the useless dead hand of government and labour council advertised jobs amount to each week in the Guardian are coming to, with a rolling total figure for the same as well. I think something along these lines would have a devasting impact. Nobody in a fair and just society likes to see others doing well at their expense.

[peter]

For a poster pick the most nauseating smile where Brown manages to quizzically re-arrange his features, then showing just his head put above it, 'WE LABOUR' then underneath 'THEY PARTY'. Show the government debt below that in big figures(maybe include some party poppers going off). Include the website for the Conservatives home page(or yours) then on there the same poster. A statistic counter below which could show the amount of cost that the useless dead hand of government and labour council advertised jobs amount to each week in the Guardian are coming to, with a rolling total figure for the same as well. I think something along these lines would have a devasting impact. Nobody in a fair and just society likes to see others doing well at their expense. Sorry. Posted again without the typos.

[Richard]

Start with a 20 yr old first time voter,watching Election 97 on TV, with a grin as TB wins in 97.

Next to the man,his pregnant girlfriend,they watch the TV & look down at the bump of the baby.

Then cut to Brown,'we will follow Tory spending plans for first 2 yrs',cut to him announcing budget surpluses for those years.

Then Brown saying he is going to invest.

Next clip:Now man & wife,move into new house,smiling as on screen graphics show house price appreciation,the now 3 yr old plays in the garden,with a broad smile.

Cut to the Brown budgets:

One after another,clips anouncing deficit upon defict 2000-2007 at the budgets, now 30 yr old man grin fades.

Then proceed to show Brown saying'we are only spending because we are in a recession'

Add up the,good times borrowing on screen.

Child now 11,with her hands over her ears,sitting on the sofa,as parents argue about money,show appreciation of petrol prices,utility bills,graph of unemployment rise.

final scene:

The now 30 yr old man,looks sad,as he looks at a picture of his family picture,taken in front of their new home.

The camera pans out,to a empty house,all the furniture gone except the sofa he is sitting on,then the removal guys come for that.

End with the playing of'things can only get better'.

[BUZZ]

I wonder if the surviving lads from Auf Wiedersehen Pet will get back together again and produce another great comedy TV series depicting that Labour doesn't work, forcing workers abroad or facing the dole/incapacity benefit queue. I remember the placard very well saying this. Just look at Rover, LDV, Woolworths and even smaller companies like the one on the Isle or Wight that made Wind Turbines - the workers who are trying to save their jobs get treated worse than criminals and illegal immigrants.

[Normal bloke]

Average Man in the street stood next to the bar having a pint.
Gordon Brown (GB) stands next to him with menacing expression.
GB suddenly slaps the pint out of his hand, it falls to the floor and the glass smashes.

Cut to

Average pensioner walks down the street with a walking stick.
GB walks at his side with a menacing expression.
GB suddenly snatches the walking stick and the pensioner falls to the ground.

Cut to

We are looking over the shoulder of a school leaver; in his hand he holds a newspaper open at the situations vacant page.
The newspaper slowly burns from the centre outward and in the hole appears GB’s face with a menacing expression.

Cut to

A small child with his mother are at the counter of a clothes shop, buying a new school uniform.
GB is behind the counter with a menacing expression. He takes the clothes and the money, and then hands the mother a bundle of rags. The child cries.

Cut to

Team Photo shoot on the harbour in Monte Carlo
Gordon Brown, Peter Mandleson, Tony Blair, et al. Smiling, Laughing and holding up glasses of Champagne in salute.

Cut to Closing Title

Thank you and Goodbye.