Florida’s gubernatorial race is expected to be a tight one, and there’s been a lot of ads flying back and forth between the candidates trying to tip the balance ahead of the November 4th election. A controversial online ad unveiled earlier this month has the state chairs of the Republican and Democratic Parties weighing in. And, it’s also gotten the attention of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report."
Earlier this month, the College Republican National Committee put out a series of ads aimed at a younger crowd. It’s a parody of the TLC show, “Say Yes to the Dress,” and it involves Republican candidates and their opponents in several state races, including Florida’s Governor Rick Scott.
The ad has gained a lot of attention nationwide. And, Tuesday night was no different on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” show. Host Stephen Colbert started off by taking some jabs at the ad.
“Yes, they are imitating the popular TLC show ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ to appeal to female voters in the same way you would appeal to veterans with ‘Cupcake Wars,’” said Colbert to his audience.
The ads portray each candidate as different wedding dress. In this one, Rick Scott is the more appealing one.
So, Colbert decided to parody the CRNC’s ad by creating one of his own, featuring two women comparing each candidate to sanitary napkins.
The Colbert Report
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But, the CRNC ad doesn’t just have comedians weighing in; the leaders of Florida’s two main political parties have strong opinions as well.
“I thought it was ridiculous and sexist. I don’t know whose idea that was or who thought it was a good idea,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant. “Even my 16-year-old son couldn’t find words to make sense of that advertisement and it was insulting to women. It was insulting to young, college women who are looking to graduate and go and do very meaningful, wonderful things with their lives, including marriage, but not limited to marriage. I thought it was obnoxious, immature, sophomoric, inappropriate…”
But, Leslie Dougher, the Republican Party of Florida Chair defended the ad.
“I kind of thought it was humorous and funny for that age group, and it was something that was done by College Republicans,” said Dougher. “I have a 15-year-old daughter who saw the humor in it, but again the Democrats and Charlie will use anything negatively to think something negative about it to distract you and you know, Charlie will try anything to distract you. But it was just something that was a parody. It was kind of funny.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the CRNC’s ad—which came out at the beginning of this month—has had more than 422,000 views. It’s also the mostly viewed video on their youtube channel.
For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner.
