Third-party ads allow the candidates to benefit from the attacks while retaining the ability to plausibly deny they have gone negative.
On Thursday, Olivia Chow's mayoral campaign sent out a news release that listed John Tory’s supposed ethical transgressions.
On Friday, a slick anti-Tory attack advertisement
John Tory: He'll Take Toronto Backwards - YouTube
appeared on YouTube. It neatly parroted Chow’s talking points. But it wasn’t identified as a Chow ad. Or as anybody else’s ad.
The 60-second video, uploaded by somebody called “mentelli,” did not identify its creator, even in tiny print. Chow spokesman Jamey Heath acknowledged that the campaign got to watch it before it was released — but said it was made by “someone supportive” of the campaign, not the campaign itself.
“What we’ve said about him isn’t a state secret. So there are people friendly to our campaign who reinforce what we’re saying,” Heath said.
more sticks and stones
Who approved that message? Outside attack ads proliferate in Toronto election | Toronto Star
The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.
Sigmund Carlin or somebody, who knows
On Thursday, Olivia Chow's mayoral campaign sent out a news release that listed John Tory’s supposed ethical transgressions.
On Friday, a slick anti-Tory attack advertisement
John Tory: He'll Take Toronto Backwards - YouTube
appeared on YouTube. It neatly parroted Chow’s talking points. But it wasn’t identified as a Chow ad. Or as anybody else’s ad.
The 60-second video, uploaded by somebody called “mentelli,” did not identify its creator, even in tiny print. Chow spokesman Jamey Heath acknowledged that the campaign got to watch it before it was released — but said it was made by “someone supportive” of the campaign, not the campaign itself.
“What we’ve said about him isn’t a state secret. So there are people friendly to our campaign who reinforce what we’re saying,” Heath said.
more sticks and stones
Who approved that message? Outside attack ads proliferate in Toronto election | Toronto Star
The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.
Sigmund Carlin or somebody, who knows
