If politics in Game of Thrones featured attack ads

Mike Mechanic from Mother Jones sez, "So, basically, the folks in our DC office were sitting around shooting the shit, and someone asked: What would it be like if they had Super-PACs in Westeros? Well, it turns out somebody knew somebody who knew someone, which allowed us to professionally produce these 'Game of Thrones Super-PAC Attack Ads.'"

Game of Thrones Attack Ads

• [Nathan Hornby]

  By ‘professionally produced’ do they mean ‘knocked up in iMovie’? I assume they do.

  Regardless it’s a great idea, kudos :)

  • [Jim Saul]

    You read the blurb… they did this in the office. So it was professional!

    I hope this becomes a meme… I want to see one treating the Stark words the same way tea-stooges treat global warming.

    Days like this I wish the internet had one of those ship-bells that the bartenders at theme restaurants ring when they get a really good tip. Just a big button on the page… today the internet deserves a cheer.

    Oh wait. I guess that’s what the thumb is.

    Ding. Ding.

  • [Sirkowski]

    There’s plenty of Super PAC ads that are just as bad (but a lot less funny).

• [Shashwath T.R.]

  Attack ads? Any self respecting Westerosi politician isn’t going to bother with some puny ads!

  • [Uhclem]

    Heads, spikes

    • [Rachael Storey Burke]

      Manhoods, goats.

      • [Bill Galloway]

         Buckets, rats.

      • [Kevin Conboy]

        Hodor, hodor.

  • [Matt Dowsett]

    There is no such thing as self respecting when applied to politicians.  

• [Nick Smith]

  Remind em not to use Mother Jones for anything professional;…but funny  nevertheless.

• [technobach]

  Remeber, “Professional” does not mean well done. It means they paid for it

  • [foxyshadis]

    With BEER!

  • [malindrome]

    If you ever watch some “professional” political ads, you’ll notice that production values are essentially irrelevant.  See this New Yorker article for details, but some of the most effective attack ads in history have been pretty crude in terms of “quality”.  (Exhibit A.) Message is all that counts in political advertising.

• [irksome]

  Lannister = GOP, except they never pay their debts.

• [franko]

  [spoilers!]
  ; )

• [Suburbancowboy]

  I love how they used the Demon Sheep from the Carly Fiorina attack ad in the Robb Stark ad.

  • [Buddy Bradley]

    Noticed that too. Nice touch!

• [penguinchris]

  Funny, but it seems to me that the characters in the books really could not care less about the “unimportant” people or what they think (some characters are worse than others but this aspect is rarely explored) so they don’t really need to run ads.

  Might be funny to do something from the point of view of the peasants (e.g. a “Lower Decks” episode). I imagine it’d be like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where most people have no idea what those in power are doing, or even who they are, and don’t really care as long as it doesn’t affect them (… sort of like the modern USA).

  • [ocker3]

     Really? Where do you think armies are raised from, goats? One of Renly’s claims to the throne was that the people loved him, and he wasn’t just talking about the nobles.

    • [penguinchris]

      Good point. My comment partially came, though, from the sense I got that the soldiers joined the army because they had nowhere else to go and/or joined for the money – I honestly could not figure out why they fought as hard as they did for their leaders. Also, I don’t really trust anything that the characters say about themselves or their friends, so it’s hard for me to judge whether or not the people really love one king over another :)

      Of course it’s obvious that there are direct effects on the population depending on who’s in charge, and that a good king that people like is more likely to stay in power. But I still don’t think that most people in the land care that much about the politics that goes on because most of it doesn’t change anything for them.

      I’ve only seen the show and not read the books, so I’m sure there’s a lot I’m missing :)

      • [Adam Fields]

        “I honestly could not figure out why they fought as hard as they did for their leaders.”

        Bored. No internet in Westeros.

    • [Brenda Vincent]

      Those armies are raised from the peasants being told fight. The lord has spoken! When the lord, who owns everything in the area requires you, you don’t get paid at all. But when the time comes to pillage the town that’s when you may get some benefit.