Carly Fiorina Opera TV Ad
I just saw a commercial that was attacking Carly Fiorina’s Senatorial campaign in California. In it, a larger Caucasian male in a tuxedo was singing a song from an opera that was critical of Fiorina’s prior business practices. Specifically, it presented data indicating that during her time at Hewlett-Packard 33,000 people were laid off, nearly 10,000 jobs were shipped out of the country, and she received a 45 million dollar severance package.
What fascinated me about the ad was the conflicting messages that were occurring within it. The data being presented was that Fiorina is wealthy and a business-person concerned about the bottom line at the expense of American workers. Which would be a great way to paint her as being out of touch with mainstream America. However, the way it was presented was by a vocalist during the performance of an opera which is traditionally viewed as a more intellectual and wealthy activity.
Since it was critical of Fiorina, I would assume it was meant to drum up support for Barbara Boxer, the incumbent Democratic nominee. So, was this meant to encourage Democratic voters to actually go to the polls as the pundits predict poor turn-out in the Democratic base? Democrats are typically held to be intellectual and anti-capitalism.
So, does it mean that intellectual elite and people in the upper tax brackets shouldn’t vote for her? Maybe it’s an implication that she’s not smart enough or wealthy enough to deserve their vote. She’s running as a Republican so I guess they wouldn’t vote for her anyway.
My guess is that it was meant for the “undecided” voters. It still seems odd to push a populist message using a more bourgeoisie framing device. As someone who wasn’t going to vote for Fiorina anyway, given her conservative views on social issues, this strikes me as a waste of resources given it’s confusing and ineffectual argument.
However, it is kind of silly and rather petty. In the 80s, there was a phrase used in rap known as “dissed on wax” which meant that an MC would insult another MC on a record. Could you describe this as being “dissed on Aria?”
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