The answer is right now….
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhm-22Q0PuM]
As reported in the National Journal:
The Herman Cain campaign is on the record: That bizarre campaign ad featuring Chief of Staff Mark Block smoking a cigarette is no joke. It’s what the campaign intended to release to the Web to promote the candidate, although it’s also noteworthy that the ad now appears neither on the candidate’s website nor on his YouTube page.
photo courtesy of cigaretteflavours.com
In the video ad, Block is featured in a series of close-ups praising his boss, the pizza executive cum presidential candidate, and also pitching for donations to his campaign for the Republican nomination. “We’ve run a campaign like no one has ever seen,” Block says in the ad, and then backs up the point by taking a drag on a cigarette and blowing the smoke into the camera. The video then fades to a still photo of Cain against a sound background of a female vocalist singing, “I Am America.” In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Block responded to questions about the ad after it exploded on Twitter and YouTube. “There was no subliminal message,” Block said. “In fact, I personally would encourage people not to smoke. It’s just that I’m a smoker. A lot of the people on the staff said ‘Just let Block be Block.’ That’s what it was all about.”
Photo courtesy of free-extras.com
Now, I am all for being yourself. So, if I was someone’s Chief of Staff could I end my video with my addiction too? Could I end with stuffing my face with chocolate? Seriously, what does Block being Block have to do with Cain being Cain? Isn’t the point here to market Herman Cain? I think someone missed the old marketing mark here and maybe someone should be in charge of image for the next video? Although, if you visit the National Journal’s site and read the full article, Herman Cain is all for smoking by choice in restaurants. So…maybe the ad should run?!
No matter what, I thought the ad was funny (the kind of funny of when you are watching someone walk down the street with toilet paper stuck to their shoe), I doubt this kind of ridiculous what the Cain campaign was shooting for but clearly landed on! So now we have a modern day ad with smoking!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..