Possibly the World's Most Uplifting Political Ad

Posted by John
Every election cycle, American campaign commercials unleash their insinuations, faulty syllogisms and cleverly disguised half-truths on the voting public. These staples of the Fall television lineup rarely stray from the standard script, where a menacing-sounding narrator inveighs against the evils of the candidate’s opponent. Grainy photographs appear briefly on the screen, carrying with them suggestions of something sinister. And the whole 30-second production is scored to a soundtrack that belongs in an Alfred Hitchcock thriller rather than a careful explication of the political process.

In the televised world created by political consultants, a vote for Michael Dukakis invites rape and pillage throughout the land. Barry Goldwater has his itchy finger on the nuclear trigger, Max Cleland lacks patriotism despite losing three limbs on a Vietnam battlefield, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein are essentially the same person. “Saturday Night Live” satirized the absurdity of these types of ads to memorable effect last year, when one skit showed a McCain campaign team putting together a commercial that asserted: “Barack Obama plays basketball. Charles Barkley plays basketball. Is Charles Barkley qualified to lead our economy? He gambled millions away in Las Vegas. Don’t let Barack Obama gamble with our economy.”

With these sorts of disingenuous arguments and dirty tricks serving as my template for political ads, my first Indonesian campaign commercial last week came as quite a shock. Incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known here by his hipper “SBY” nickname, has a commercial that serves as a 60-second love letter to the Indonesian people. Within an hour of tuning into Indonesian TV channels most evenings, viewers are treated to this relentlessly upbeat message of joy and jubilation, conveyed through song, dance and smiles. Not even Ronald Reagan’s rhapsodic “It’s Morning Again in America” offered as unapologetic a celebration of national pride and pageantry.



This SBY spot certainly puts Indonesians’ most scenic and musical foot forward. Drums herald the coming of something portentous. A singer perched on a cliff beckons his countrymen with an outstretched hand and a warm, personable tone. Children jaunt through a verdant valley, carrying red and white banners that merge into the Indonesian national flag. Men on horseback gallop through waves crashing on a beach. Traditional Balinese dancers perform their exquisitely tailored choreography to the clinking tones of gamelan music. A quick cut shows the Batak, North Sumatra’s venerated ethnic group, raising their hands in another traditional dance.

Through it all, the refrain that resonates in the higher notes of the falsetto register is “SBY, SBY: Presiden ku (“SBY, SBY: My president.”) It’s an irresistibly catchy tune, though Danielle has begun resisting my endless rehearsing of the ads’ more catchy harmonic hooks. As advertising, however, the commercial takes more from the pages of Rogers and Hammerstein or an Indonesian tourism brochure than from political spinmeisters like Dick Morris or Lee Atwater. It reminds me of the “I’d like to give the world a Coke” Super Bowl advertisements. I can’t see this SBY commercial making it in the rough-and-tumble world of televised American politics—it would be laughed off the air.

Perhaps that’s not an entirely inappropriate response, either. While the SBY ad is refreshingly free of the vitriol that characterizes American political ads, it’s also troublingly free of political content. Indonesia’s beaches look inviting, but the ad says nothing about taxes or health care. SBY’s commercials shouldn’t necessarily have to be earnest truth-in-advertising exercises with pictures of Jakarta traffic jams or the Surabaya sewer system. But he could speak more to the poverty that plagues the country. After repeated viewings of the song-and-dance SBY commercial, it was a relief a few days ago to see a second SBY commercial in the candidate biography format, listing a litany of accomplishments.

The SBY “Presiden Ku” ad reflects two aspects of the current Indonesian political situation. First, SBY’s re-election has become a foregone conclusion. As the architect of a meaningful anti-corruption campaign and a steady leader after the 2004 tsunami disaster, SBY holds a 30-point lead over his closest rival in a three-way presidential campaign. With these sorts of numbers, SBY’s political team can probably afford to pave the way to his coronation with this Broadway musical approach to advertising.

Second, Indonesian candidates seem reluctant to attack their opponents. Danielle and I have watched two or three campaign specials—including from the vice-president who was kicked off SBY’s ticket and now runs on his own—and none of the candidates offer criticism of their opponents’ policies. It’s possible that the candidates are keeping their powder dry for the last few stages of the campaign, but Election Day is a month away and no candidate has sought to draw direct contrasts with his or her rivals.

These niceties have me wanting to get a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince into the hands of SBY’s opponents. Not that I want them to win, necessarily, but it seems like it would make it more of a contest. Then again, with my poorly tuned understanding of Indonesian voters, there’s no telling how many ways such a take-no-prisoners approach to politics would backfire.