Elaine Richardson

Like angry pack dogs chasing blood, the politcos hit TV with zero subtlety this week, telling you why their candidate's opponent is evil incarnate--someone not to be voted for. And one week before the March 19 primary election, every other political spot seems to end in carnage as one lawyer stomps another to the floor.

It's in this atmosphere that a host of funny, unique political ads--those of the mangled Polish and projectile vomiting--continue to run. They've been the hallmarks of the campaign of GOP Attorney General candidate, River Forest lawyer Bob Coleman.

"It was really a strategy about the fact that Bob Coleman had no name recognition whatsoever," says Barb Lazarus, the campaign's media coordinator. "We felt that unless we really did something that caught the public's attention we didn't stand a chance, and considering we had no name recognition to begin with, we really had nothing to lose."

With the help of local advertising guru Jan Zechman, the campaign put together its now famous spots: In a take on the politician-kisses-the-baby cliché, Coleman's in suit and tie, juggling a succession of crying babies, until one of them throws up all over him, thus enforcing the message: "A great lawyer, not a great politician."

"To me it doesn't seem like that much of a leap, except for the fact that it's never been done before," Zechman says of the ads. "Political ads all adhere to stringent rules--that's why they all look alike. We didn't set out to do humor, but we did set out to do something different. So it became about how to take these things politicians do to get elected--kissing babies, bonding with ethnic communities--and see how Bob Coleman would do them; he would do them badly."

But these ads, another of which features Coleman mangling Polish to a group of citizens, telling them "My uncle's chicken is dancing in his underwear," are fairly out there, especially for political spots: How did Zechman and Co. convince Coleman to do it?

"My approach to him was that obviously we need to expose the serious side of Bob Coleman, it's a serious position; but we don't necessarily need to do that on television because that's what everyone does," Zechman says. "I didn't think that television has been used fully in the past by political candidates and he was interested in that. We get information from television, but it's an entertainment medium. You can still get information across and feel good about that--it's just different information."

Lazarus says the campaign used the ads to encourage people to seek more information about Coleman, and thus far it seems to have worked, though they won't know for sure until the results are tallied. "Everywhere we've gone, people have mentioned him. People like him. ... We've achieved our goal and earned recognition," she says.

And Zechman says he enjoys seeing Coleman's ads up against the current spate of negativity. "I love it because every time a new commercial like that comes on, it just reinforces what we're trying to do. I think people really like the fact that he did that, really like the fact that he said 'Let's not take ourselves so seriously.'"

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment