A BoB Short
Despite spending over $100 million promoting their Economic Action Plan (EAP), the Conservative Party of Canada contented itself with just one, no-charge domain name, actionplan.gc.ca. Now anti-Conservative group Shit Harper Did has jumped at the opportunity, footing the $9 bill to purchase economicactionplan.ca as home of their new campaign.
The website currently hosts three videos mocking the EAP television ads, as well as lists of facts, taken mostly from news publications, criticizing the EAP’s “success” in improving employment rates and eliminating the wealth gap and gender and ethnic wage disparities. “The rich have nearly doubled their wealth over the last 13 years,” advises one. “Canada’s 86 wealthiest people now have as much as the 11.4 million poorest.”
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While some Canadians may stumble upon the spoof website while trying to find the actual EAP site, Shit Harper Did has bigger dreams — to get their videos on national primetime television. The group is asking people to donate in denominations between $5 and $90,000 in order to run the ads as widely and as many times as possible.
But can a small group of viral activists get their anti-Tory ads on television? It turns out they already have. Last year they were able to raise $76,412 through crowdfunding site Indiegogo to air an ad during “Hockey Night in Canada” in the midst of the playoffs. It ended with “A message brought to you by taxpayers who paid for those f@#%ing Conservative ads in the first place.”
As of this writing, the first spot in the new campaign is scheduled to air in about 10 hours, which will be just after midnight Pacific time. If you’d like to help them buy ads at better hours, here’s the donation form.
–Drew McLachlan
