Remember the first time the Dems tried to get a government health care plan through Congress? Lemme refresh your memory. It was back during the Clinton years. Hillary was in charge, and she and her merry band of secret advisory panelists put together a plan with no outside input, then punted up to Capitol Hill. The plan was effectively D.O.A. One of the things that was credited with torpedoing the plan were commercials featuring “Harry and Louise” – a stereotypical, middle-age, made-for-TV couple, who turned out to be shilling for the Health Insurance Association of America, an industry lobbying group. The commercials showed them, sitting around the breakfast table, expressing genuine concern over how HillaryCare was about to force socialized medicine on the country. They were effective spots, and probably did more to  wake up the middle class as to what was going on in D.C. than anything else.

Fast-forward to 2009. HillaryCare is back, retooled as “ObamaCare” – but this time, it was crafted in the House of Representatives, instead of the White House. Harry and Louise are back, too. This time, they are FOR the plan, courtesy of their new sponsors, a pharmaceutical industry trade group and Families USA, is a progressive non-profit consumer health-care advocacy group.

Harry and Louise sold out.

The new spot is confusing, simply because these two went from being government watchdogs to government lapdogs in under 30 seconds. I had to watch the spot several times because it’s so bloody oblique. As I listened again, I realized why I was confused – because they were mindlessly shilling for Obama & Company. So what made them fight HillaryCare, but love ObamaCare? Simply put, their corporate masters got bought out.

Unlike last time, when Hillary thought that she and her progressive pals would be able to run roughshod over all the stakeholders, Obama thought that by buying off Big Pharma, AARP, and the AMA, they could overcome the two groups scheduled for a-screwin’ in the new plan: Insurance companies and the general public. Lo and behold, the public – in particular, senior citizens – have pushed back, and have basically said “NO” to ObamaCare. Interestingly, Harry and Louise’s former team – Big Insurance, is now getting pilloried by Pelosi & Co.  (as a writer, I’m dying to write “pilloried by Hillary” for the alliteration alone, but Ms. Clinton is busy saving the world from the evils of the U.S.A., and has to watch her pet project from the sidelines).

What interests me as a marketer is how minor political icons have, through a quirk of ownership (the IP is owned by the agency – not the client), changed sides, and what effect that will have on the debate. I’m betting that the switch will backfire, and that Harry and Louise will find their credibility shot, and their 15 minutes of fame a fond memory. But that’s what happens when you trade consistency for expediency and common sense for a quick buck.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 7:02 pm and is filed under advertising, marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.