The problem with that David Cameron ad

terence patrick hewett

This is a re-run of the John Major two faced poster. It won't work again, not after 12 years of deceit.

TrevorsDen

A number of anti labour spoofs on this are coming out.

it is of course too much to expect you to point this out.

stephen

I would'nt worry too much Labour are so broke they probably won't be able to afford a decent poster campaign!

JONNY

Labour quite inadvertently giving Cameron Prime-Ministerial status. And a strong prominence. Not so very very clever.

Short the UK

Spot on James, it was bonkers to push Cameron as the chosen one. They need to make the campaign about Mr Brown and his failed policies.

I would like to see Willian Hague be the attack dog.

Fitalass

Sorry, but you are not being in the least bit consistent here. Your message is all over the place. We were told that Cameron poster was a disaster that backfired, indeed, you are still attempting to sell that on the back of this one from Labour today.
And you are not the only journalist to do so either.

You may have listened and fallen for the Labour spin on this last time, and you are definitely falling for it again with this interpretation of their new poster.

Cameron on a poster saying he would cut the deficit not the NHS is deemed a mistake by the MSM etc. But spot the clear commitment to the NHS, powerful stuff that totally neuks all Brown's previous attempts to portray the Tories as the party of public cuts to save money.

Labour now put Cameron on their election poster and try to undermine his commitment to the NHS?
See the contradiction?

If you have to use your own poster to counter your opponents previous one, then that suggests concern at their message.
C’mon boys and girls, get out there and start looking at this from the view of the public and not the talking heads in the press room.

Yet again, the MSM are judging this through the Westminster bubble, Labour are obviously doing this because of their private polling and focus group feedback. Throwing the MSM a biscuit by saying that their message is that the electorate doesn’t believe what Cameron is saying is pure politicking, and more fool them for falling for it.
So I ask again, if that Conservative poster was so unsuccessful, why have Labour now attempted to undermine it?

At the moment, the only message coming from this site is that Tory posters bad, Labour posters clever. Think about those posters in that context as well, and you might be able to judge the mood and the message behind them. Its simple really.

Michael Booth

With the wealth of material Labour have provided over the years, it would be a very sad state of affairs if the Tories couldn't do better than this...

Boudicca

The eye is drawn to the brighter side of the picture with the positive message. You only see/read the negative if you have the time and inclination to see what it says.

Anyone passing the poster without really looking at it will miss the negative message .. so its message could actually be understood that Cameron is committed to the NHS.

Nicholas

Oh, has the General Election campaign started? Do we have a date? How much longer is the Fat Owl who needs to be removed going to make us wait?

lola

When I first saw it, and reading from left to right, I thought it was a Tory poster. The highlight is on the 'good' (in my terms bad) bit.

Ben Elford

So far this tells us:

a) Labour have been rattled by the Tory poster

b) They haven't got a positive message of their own, so they're using negative tactics

It's hard to see how any of this points to a shortcoming in the Cameron poster.

Major Plonquer

Where did the Labour party manage to scrape together enough brass to buy a copy of Photoshop?

This poster is just begging for spoofs. Can't wait to see them.

Chris

It's funny the way you basically just admit in this article that as soon as people focus on Cameron they find him totally unappealing!
It's true- the only reason so many people will vote Conservative is to get rid of Brown!

strapworld

A message for Mr Fraser Nelson.

Now that Migrationwatch, under the freedom of information act, have established Neather to be a FACT. Can I now have your post on immigration you promised me, twice?

This is an outrageous assault on the British people by this communistic incompetent government.

I doubt if Cameron will mention this at all. He having banned his candidates (I thought they represented a party?) from mentioning the word Immigration.

Played properly this will be the straw that breaks the back of the general public. I am sure the BNP will play this shocking fact for all that it is worth.

Now I await the words of Fraser Nelson. Will they come?

TomTom

Steve Hilton thinks Cameron is Mao and should adorn every poster - that might appeal in Berkshire or Buckinghamshire but it turns voters off in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northumberland.....so it leaves just Conservative Cultists to vote for the man on the poster.....hung Parliament here we come !

NickW

We all know that Brown's promises are worthless;

That NHS Mangaers will fiddle the figures, and if they can't fiddle the figures, they will employ ten more managers to do it.

That being seen in two weeks is not the same as diagnosis and treatment in two weeks.

That in the face of limited resources; prioritising one health condition is always at the cost of another. Other patients with painful, distressing and incapacitating diseases, (which are not cancer) will have to wait longer and get less treatment.

At least Cameron has a face. Labour have admitted that if Brown wins the election he will immediately get the boot, and the Labour Party will impose their own choice of leader on us.

Vulture

There's one poster that would win the election for Dave.

A Saatchi style queue of people in Burquas stretching far into the distance with the slogan: LABOUR DELIBERATELY BROUGHT YOU MASS MIGRATION.
(A fact confirmed by today's Telegraph lead story).

Will Dave allow it? Well, what do you think?

Will Fraser comment on it? Well, what do you think?

There's an elephant in the room and its just dumped a huge turd. But we still ain't allowed to mention the fact.

oldtimer

Indeed there is a problem with that ad. White print on a black background is less legible than black on white. David Ogilvy pointed this elementary fact out about 25 years ago - but then we all know that Brown Labour is behind the times.

Nick

As others have pointed out most people taking a cursory look at this will think it a Tory poster highlighting Cameron's "commitment to the NHS." Most people won't bother reading the semi-illegible text on the right of the poster.

TGF UKIP

"The contrast between Cameron and Brown does work to the Tories advamtage." On the other hand the contrast between Mandelson/Campbell and Hilton/Coulson most certainly doesn't. Rottweilers v Poodles.

TGF UKIP

Stapworld, why do you think I call him Never Neather Nelson?

Dorothy Wilson

People making the point that anyone looking at this poster will be drawn to the left side and skip over the right are absolutely correct. This is particularly so if these posters are erected at the side of the road so that car drivers just catch a glipse as they drive past. The white print on on a black background on the right of the poster would reinforce that.

A point in passing on NHS funding. One of the NHS Trusts in Nottingham has just been making loud noises about the need to make £50 million cuts due, in part, to reduced funding from the government. As that is for the next financial year presumably those cuts are being put in place by Brown's government. So much for Labour's tactics of portraying the Conservatives as the party that will cut NHS funding.

Katie.T.

By far, the main reason for the "Tory wobble" is the way the 'big Cameron' posters stirred up lots of people into physically defacing them http://www.moneymad.org/David_Cameron_defaced_posters.htm and widely ridiculing them online. That poster will be mainly responsible for the coming hung parliament.

John Richardson

'Vulture'
8:59am.

Brilliant.