I have just recently posted my Bush ad that I originally created for
MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest but was rejected before it even
reached the voting stage, yet, ironically, allowed those now-infamous ads
that compared Bush to Hitler to be posted on its site for voting. You can
view the Flash version of the ad right now at:
http://www.twistedunicorn.com/animation/miscanimations/animationpages/pointc
ounterpoint.html
Here is the background story to the ad that I posted on my Twisted Unicorn
site (http://www.twistedunicorn.com):
Last month I submitted a QuickTime animation to a contest that was sponsored
by MoveOn.org (http://www.moveon.org). The major requirements were that it
had to be either an MPEG or QuickTime file under 4 MB, the submission must
not run longer than 30 seconds, you weren't allowed to say that President
Bush should be defeated or re-elected, and you weren't allowed to suggest
any of the other candidates who are running for president. Well, here's what
happened to my submission. Initially I got an e-mail from those guys saying
that my entry was one of 500 submissions. But by the deadline, several more
submissions came in so the total came to over 1,500.
I kept on getting e-mails from MoveOn saying that they will make every
effort to get as many of those submissions online as possible.
Then on December 18, I get this e-mail:
Dear ad submitter,
We know you spent time and energy on your ad. We know you put a lot into it.
So it's with regret that we have to tell you that your ad
"Point/Counter-Point" is one of a number that won't be available on our
website for voting.
We had to put aside ads for a variety of reasons. Some posed insurmountable
technical problems. For others - including some of our favorites -- our
lawyers informed us that posting them could get us in legal trouble. (The most
common problem was that ads advocated voting in the context of George Bush,
which isn't OK for us under election law.) Each ad was viewed at least twice,
and many were viewed by a number of our staff and our legal counsel -- it was
an extensive process. And although we worked to let as many ads as possible
move through to the next stage, "Point/Counter-Point" was one of a small pool
that couldn't be accommodated.
We deeply appreciate everything you put into your submission for Bush in 30
Seconds. We hope we can harness your creativity and hard work more fruitfully
the next time around.
Sincerely,
--Eli, Jonathan, Laura, Lee, and Moby
The Bush in 30 Seconds Team
So my file was in the minority that wouldn't be available for online voting
by the general public. You can imagine how I felt about it. I've tested my
file a few times and I've made every effort to make sure there were no
technical glitches. As for content that could get them into legal trouble, I
got most of my information on George W. Bush from two sites: Bush Lies
(http://www.bushlies.com/) and Misleader (http://www.misleader.org/). The
latter site is produced by MoveOn.org, the same site that sponsored the
contest that I entered. I got the John Adams quote at the end from David
McCullough's best-selling biography
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743223136/theunicornwithan/). I
made sure that the ad didn't directly say that people should vote for or
against Bush in this year's elections. I used "Hail to the Chief" as the
music but, as far as I know, that song is in the public domain.
I've showed that ad to a few people and they told me that they couldn't see
anything wrong with it. One person even told me that he felt it was far
better than the ads that actually made it to the voting stage of the
contest.
Look, I was realistic enough to know that the chances of the ad actually
making it as a television commercial that would be aired the night of Bush's
State of the Union address were slim. But I thought it would make it to the
actual voting stage.
So anyway, I now have a Flash version of that very same ad on this site. (I
originally created the file in Macromedia Flash and created QuickTime and
Flash versions of the same ad.) As you watch it, you can decide for yourself
whether MoveOn.org was right in suppressing it or not:
http://www.twistedunicorn.com/animation/miscanimations/animationpages/pointc
ounterpoint.html
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