Update: I had another thought about this, which is appended below.
Earlier today, I posted a light-hearted little piece about two mailers I’d received today. One was from Pearce for Treasurer; the other was from Vermonter (Lenore Broughton) First, on behalf of State Senate candidate Buddy Barnett. And included photos of both mailers.
Well, we just got a fascinating comment from Jeremy Hansen, Independent candidate for State Senate in Washington County. The tag line:
That’s not Buddy Barnett
Oh dear. Jeremy provided a link to a photo of the real Buddy. Here it is:
Compare that with Flyer Buddy… after the jump.
Okay, here once again is the family photo on the Buddy Barnett flyer.
Well, both guys have mustaches, and they look vaguely similar. But definitely not the same person. If you need any further proof, the Washington County voter’s guide lists Barnett as being 68 years old; the guy on the flyer looks to be in his 40s. Jeremy’s theory is that VF just found a stock photo of some guy who looked a little Buddyesque and slapped it on the mailer.
Weird. I don’t know if this violates state election law, but Christ on a cracker, is it ever embarrassing.
Addendum. I have another idea about this mailer, which is no more flattering to Vermonter First and its resident Super Genius Tayt Brooks (I.M.O.M.).
Maybe it wasn’t meant to be a photo of Buddy; it’s just a depiction of a typical Vermont family. Or something. The mailer doesn’t specifically say it’s a picture of Buddy. I suspect that VF might have just been filling space with whatever stock image they could get their hands on. Lazy, and rather irresponsible. Misleading to voters, who could rightfully assume they’re voting for a middle-aged family man instead of a retirement-age granite executive.
(There was a mini-scandal a few years ago on the west coast, in which a candidate put out a mailer picturing him with a woman and a couple of kids. Turned out, he and his wife didn’t have any children; they just borrowed some from a neighbor or relative. This Barnett mailer is kind of in the same ballpark.)
… the woman looks like she’s secretly saying “get me out of here,” and the kid with the dog looks like she’s thinking, “I bet your liver would go well with a nice Chianti.” Maybe not the best mailer from any angle…
That is a stock photo:
http://www.istockphoto.com/sto…
What is it with VT conservatives? Can’t they get VTrs to sit for phootos? First Bruce, now Lenore?
Not sure what the message is. Usually a random image of some working man or woman or family time image is used for ‘issue’ ads, not direct candidate mail.
I see that for print that photo only costs $25.00 for up to 499,999 impressions.
Cheaper than sending a photographer out to snag a photo of the candidate at an event, or with their own family.
According to his bio, he has two sons and three grandchildren. Could be…