Branding “Progressive” in the Midwest – Your Thoughts?

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The folks at the Center for American Progress are looking for opinions on their new ad campaign currently running in the Columbus, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis media markets. Here are there ads:

These first two are great, particularly the first one. The left lost the branding wars over the word “liberal,” and this sort of head-on messaging is necessary to win the branding wars over “progressive.” I particularly like the line “Progressive. And proud of it.” Less success here, though…

By pairing the progressive message with those super smug Mac ads, these spots just reinforce the idea that progressives are coastal elites who think they dress hipper, talk smarter, and know politics better than their middle American cousins. There’s also a dangerous degree of oversimplification going on.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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