By Josh Gordon
THEY'RE cheap, they're nasty, they're here to stay. Best of all for political parties, they can be produced within hours to deflect an attack, capitalise on a gaffe, flog an announcement or deride an opponent.
The proliferation of "rapid-response" political advertisements has been a feature of this election year. They are often released virally on the internet but questions remain about their effectiveness.
The reply ... a Labor ad targeting Tony Abbott.
The key message being honed by the Liberal Party is that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a leader unable to deliver on his rhetoric.
A recent Liberal ad – "Kevin Rudd's bag of tricks" – attempted to use humour to portray Mr Rudd as being prepared to say anything but hopelessly unable to deliver.
Crafty campaign ... a Liberal Party ad critical of the Prime Minister.
In contrast, Liberal ads portray Tony Abbott as straightforward, tough and decisive. Party director Brian Loughnane recently released a cheap ad featuring Mr Abbott promising to take "real action" to stop illegal immigration, with a map of Australia showing incoming red arrows from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
"Unlike our cashed-up opponents and their union mates we don't have the resources to keep our ad on primetime for long," he said.
Labor has been producing its own rapid-response attack ads to exploit perceptions that Mr Abbott is inconsistent, untrustworthy and an economic novice. Within 24 hours, Labor produced a response to his admission that only his "carefully prepared, scripted remarks" should be taken as gospel truth. "Next time Mr Abbott says anything ask yourself, is he really telling the truth?," the ad says.
The ads are placed on YouTube, often promoted on Twitter but rarely make it to mainstream TV.
According to a Labor official, both sides have had a "brains trust" of advertising people on their books for the past six months.
A Liberal with extensive experience developing and road-testing campaign messages says
rapid-response "can be very good as a tactical device because you get it replayed on the national news that night".
"But the great risk is if you get the message slightly wrong or not nuanced properly it often does more damage than good," the insider said.
University of Melbourne political advertising expert Dr Sally Young said: "I presume they think they are hitting some kind of target. It won't be everyone, but it might be swinging voters in marginal seats that might be enough to make a difference to the level of debate that goes on in the media. They'd be very specific about their aims."