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Make Your Own Ad

Slate V, the video version of Slate Magazine, has a remarkable profile of Spot Runner, a site that allows you to make personalized television ads for $500. Using a mixture of stock video clips and professional voiceovers, you can easily produce ads designed to evoke just what you are looking to convey, complete with professional messaging. Want to get elected? Choose one of the political ads: from attack ads to messages of hope and change.

The disturbing part of this is just how generic the ad space has become for these specific issues, and how this "cut and paste" approach can now be so effective in today's market. Think of the great Apple ads (Think Different, 1984), or the classic political ads (Daisy, A Man From Hope): these are all replaced with these slick, professional and utterly effective ads that any candidate can run. No ad agencies, no creative: choose your theme, add some details, and enter your credit card.

It's either a brave new world, or a sure sign of the apocalypse. Let the viewer decide: see the Slate V piece for yourself, and remember: This November, It's About Change.



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