Political Photoshop Challenges Done Right

Labour Party pulls off brilliant viral campaign

Many Canadians will remember the unimitgated, humiliating disaster that was the Canadian Liberal Party's "Anywhere but Copenhagen" photoshop challenge.

As the 2010 British General election slowly shifts into gear, the Labour Party has released some of the entries into its own photoshop contest, inviting supporters to mock the "We Can't Go On Like This" poster that David Cameron and the Conservative Party have released as their keystone campaign poster.

Unlike the Liberal Party, which embarrassed itself by publishing submissions that mused about conducting violence against Stephen Harper, the Labour Party has pulled this off splendidly -- in a sense.

Among the better of the submissions is this one, attempting to brand Cameron essentially as a Margaret Thatcher clone:

Naturally, the ad doesn't recognize Cameron's efforts to distance his party from Thatcher's conservative doctrines.

Another submission predictably tries to brand Cameron as a monstrous gargoyle, suggesting he'll harm a kitten if Britons don't vote Conservative:

While it's good for a cheap chuckle, this ad is far less effective as a political message. It merely tries to play off character defects that the creator expects viewers will hold.

It's actually remarkable that this submission, which brands Cameron as another coming of Tony Blair, was published at all:

While Tony Blair is unquestionably a liability to the Labour Party in this election, one would expect the Labour Party to publish anything that would implicitly acknowledge that.

While all of these ads will serve a vital function for the Labour Party -- solidifying its base.

However, with both the Tories and Labour having an opportunity to win this election, Labour can't afford to settle for its base, and these ads will likely have very little impact outside of the most dedicated of its faithful.