When they cry socialism, they’re trying to screw us all
Written and produced in both English and Spanish, this ad’s success showed that when you use humor to call out the right’s strategy of scapegoating you can move your audience effectively.
Building on the Race Class Narrative and Robert Cialdini’s research on the poison parasite defense, our client ASO Communications sought to defang the right’s weaponization of “socialism” as a boogeyman to frighten voters. We took this concept and drafted a highly effective script infused with humor that not only captured attention but also empowered voters to expose this deceptive game. Our ad effectively moved people to see the GOP's claims about socialism as a smokescreen diverting attention away from genuine solutions for communities. This ad, produced and tested in both English and Spanish, successfully influenced viewers in the southern United States.
The GOP is too often let off the hook when they use racial resentment and scapegoating to target their political opposition. They call what they don’t like socialism in the hopes of scaring voters, especially immigrants who fled socialist dictatorships in Latin America, who were the intended audience for this ad. We counter this narrative by exposing their motivations and inoculating against future use of this tactic.
Assembling a creative team of Latinx artists and performers, we produced this original script in both English and Spanish. Our client then tested it against an opposition ad in order to gauge impact with our intended audience of Latino voters.
In RCT combat testing scenarios where viewers had seen ads from both political parties and then ours, we saw a 5% increase in understanding that when they say “socialism” it’s a scare tactic.
This proved to be a highly effective narrative strategy that works in a limited but valuable subsection of voter demographics.
The same ad increased the “socialism scapegoat” awareness by 2% with a generic ballot audience.
Aviv is equal parts producing professional and creative collaborator. His rare mix of talents - attentive listener, efficient project manager, and astute political observer - make him a total delight. We've had the great fortune to engage with Aviv on a range of projects - from churning out rapid fire archival compilation shorts to developing complex, multi-lingual, originally filmed narratives - and will keep returning for future work.
