Last night, the Daily Show satirized the NRCC's "new" slogan, "The Change You Deserve," citing the Huffington Post. Since the Huffington Post credits Bluestem with the discovery, if one adapts the metric established by the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, we've scored a Stewart 2 on this one. First Steny Hoyer, now this:
Update: More serious news venues have taken up the anti-depressant slogan angle. The New York Times editorializes:
Just talking about change is not enough. Look at the Republican Party’s witless attempt to repackage itself with a new Barack Obama-like sound bite, only to find that “The Change You Deserve” was the ad slogan for an antidepressant.
Fox News's Political Wire reported House GOP’s ‘Change’ Slogan Not First of Its Kind. Scripps News suggests a complete makeover, not just rebranding. The TNR's plank considers Republicans' Message Nightmare
Reuters reports House Republicans won’t change ‘Change’ slogan. The lead:
House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner says he has no plans to alter a new campaign slogan — “Change you deserve” — that has been widely mocked since the phrase is used to market the anti-depressant drug Effexor.
“I think it’s working out just fine,” a smiling Boehner told reporters when asked about the slogan that has become the butt of jokes on Capitol Hill.
Keep smiling, John. In the Wall Street Journal, we've found this fun spin in House Republicans Brace For November:
Others are grumbling that Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio has not done enough to hone the party’s message and to keep members on it. The latest Republican campaign slogan unveiled this week, “Change You Deserve,” also happens to be the marketing slogan of the anti-depressant Effexor. One Republican House source tried to put a positive spin on it: “Well, it’s an effective anti-depressant, isn’t it?”
But the NRCC isn't being entirely honest here. In this morning's CQPolitics article, Rocked by Recent Losses House Republicans Struggle to Reframe Message, we learn that the slogan is actually being tweaked:
In a move widely derided for its timing and labeling, GOP leaders on Wednesday unveiled the first part of a new “Change You Deserve” agenda, a package of proposals aimed at women and families. The effect was spoiled both by Democrat Travis W. Childers’ victory a day earlier in Mississippi’s 1st District and by media reports that the new slogan has been used by Effexor, a prescription antidepressant drug.
‘Change America Deserves’
A news release the caucus issued Thursday tweaked that slogan ever so slightly with a headline about “the change America deserves.” . . .
The first thing to roll off the message assembly line? Energy. Looks like the contenders in the Republican primary in Minnesota's First are already going down that road.
Congratulations, Ollie, on your two degrees of separation from celebrity!
Posted by: Political Muse | May 16, 2008 at 05:25 PM