This is an ad for "PARANOIA Magazine", a publication that really DOES EXIST and is worth your time (if you enjoy thought-provoking articles).

The Obama campaign attempts to take 30 seconds to name all of Mitt Romney's Massachusetts taxes and fees. Set to a piano can-can, the words dance across the screen highlighting some in a very funny way: "Docking fees - Undocking fees" and at the end of the mass of information comes the punchline: that was only half of them.

One of the funniest attack ads I've seen to date. Nicely done, Obama campaign creatives.

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners created this little song above, sung by our children sad about the future, encouraging people to re-elect President Obama. No stranger to political ads, Rich Silverstein distilled eight years of politics into word-posters back in 2007 to encourage people to vote democrat. This time he got Jeff Goodby to help out and write the song, despite being a registered Republican, and the song goes a little like this;

"Imagine an America / Where strip mines are fun and free / Where gays can be fixed / And sick people just die / And oil fills the sea

Oh my Lesley Gore, this song was on constant play my sixteenth year as I soaked up the courage to walk my own path. Love this song. Love your voice. Love you! Now hundreds of American women of varying ages, color, state of dress and lip-syncing abilities are miming along to "You don't own me" to encourage all women out there to go and vote.

Every presidential campaign has mudslinging ads, and some have epic ads like the daisy countdown. I'm going to call this one as the epic mudslinging ad of this campaign, unless there's another one in the pipeline.

In the first debate between Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, the GOP nominee said that he’d cut the budget by eliminating non-essential costs, like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And that's how Obama now can say Romney is more concerned with Big Bird than Banks in this ad.

The coalitions between The SocialDemocrats, Miljöpartiet (the green party), and V (left party) show two trains choosing different directions for Sweden. One train is going to the "brighter future", while the other is going "in a totally different direction". It ends with the VO asking "what train do you choose?" just as we see an old fashioned train enter a dark tunnel, and a new X2000 train drive above ground in the sun. With this film, they hope to entice voters to side with this parties and potential coalition on Sunday when they vote.

Folkbildningsförbundet, The Swedish Adult Education Association (SAEA), has launched a schwag campaign called "Typiskt Svenskt" (Typically Swedish), where supporters of the idea help create some of the films.
This film called "unswedish" shows an eclectic group of celebrities all stating the same message, that everyone has to vote for anything at all but the party called Sverigedemokraterna (their controversial election film here), in order to prevent them from getting any parliamentary seats.

In this film for the Pirate Party called "Vad vet du om upphovsrätt", we see an idyllic suburbian street and a young girl selling lemonade and cookies at her stand. Thing is, she's also listening to the radio.

Enter the (relatively) new guy on the block, the Pirate Party, which formed in 2006 and hopes to break the 4% barrier which will get them a seat in parliament. Their election ad is low-budget, not aired on TV Channel 4 where most of the other parties ads will air, and is all about privacy. A woman goes about her regular day, as CCTV cameras, and card machines follow her around. The only part of her day we don't get to spy on, is her visit to the toilet. The tag: "Even if you have nothing to hide, you still have the right to your privacy."

In the SSU film - the Social Democratic Youth group that hopes you'll vote for the Social Democrats - jobs are the main topic again. It shows how four young people order pizzas, and as the pizza-maker takes them out of the oven, he spit-caughs right onto one of them. As each one of the four young people are about to dig into the possibly contaminated with snot pizza-slices, the super says: "1 in 4 are not good odds. 1 in 4 young people are out of work. Vote for the social democrats for work and hope."

Folkpartiet (The liberal party) show a classroom of today, and as we pan out the noise and bustle from rowdy students gets worse as we get the further away from the teacher. One girl, clearly frustrated by not being able to hear what the teacher is saying, drop her pencil and sighs. The promise: "Peace/calm so you can concentrate in school." Better education has long been a staple promise of Folkpartiet.

As the old lady dresses up, and lovingly glances at a photograph of her and her husband, one might believe that she's on her way to visit his grave. Not so, as the twist reveals she's visiting him in a retirement home. The promise Folkpartiet (the liberal party) gives here is that old couples should still have the right to live together, even when one of them is in need of assistance. Today, married couples are sadly separated when they have different needs in retirement homes.

For the 2010 election, FP - the Liberal party - promises to keep jobs by not shutting down the nuclear power plants. This film makes all the power plant sounds, including the familiar spoon in a cup during coffee break, make the soundtrack.

"Almost half of our electricity comes from Swedish nuclear power plants. Keep the nuclear power plants, and we'll keep the jobs."

This is Kristdemokraternas (The Christian Democrats, who align with Centern, Folkpartiet and Moderaterna in the conservative alliance) election film. It has lots of wild animals in it, just like their poster campaign, and is oddly reminiscent of the Social Democrats 1985 film directed by Roy Anderson with its anti-egotism message. In both films you'll see someone who has fallen 'and can't get up' because crowds of people are trampling around them without helping them.

Vänsterpartiet - "The Left Party" - formerly known as Vänsterpartiet kommunisterna (VPK) which they changed in 1990 to simply "V" also promise more jobs, in a roundabout way. The VO says:

"Did you know that 3 billion kronor is earned as profit every year, by privately owned health care companies in Sweden? That is money that you and I pay to our joint health care. For that money, we can hire eight thousand nurses instead. We want to build the worlds best welfare state without private profit."

"Centerpartiet" is as the name alludes the center party n Sweden's political landscape. They align with the conservatives, and just like them promise more jobs, but in a far more sarcastic fashion. Here we see how a newborns mother explains her plans for her child: "I was thinking he could go to nightschool". A girl in first grade explains "when I grow up, I'm going to be uninsured", a young boy at soccer practice gets asked if wants to go pro: "No, I'm going to go on the dole, like Daddy".
A tutor asks her student: What are your plans after school, and the student responds, "I'd really like to jump from internship to internship....." Students in their traditional hats party, yelling "one more month, then we'll be in temporary job measures!

Once again, the promise is more jobs, and they show small things that boost self esteem, such as your own nametag, a perfectly made cappuccino, as well as large things, such as an entire class of children celebrating you or the construction you're building taking shape.

Super: "Self-esteem. Just one of the many reasons why more people should have a job".
Subtagline: Sweden's only workers party.

Here's something we can all identify with, the hustle-and-bustle as the weekend approaches. Ladies gossip in the restroom about their plans, mom leaves work early and is picked up by dad and her kids in a car full of camping gear, men are seen dragging the familiar systembolaget* bags home heavy with wine, favorite dinner ingredients are picked up in the supermarket. In short, it's the weekend.

"Weekend. Just one of the many reasons why more people should have a job".
Subtagline: Sweden's only workers party.

* In Sweden, alcohol can only be bought at special stores called Systembolaget.

(Nya) Moderaterna, the conservative party in Sweden, are promising more jobs as always in the national election. But not just because work pays money, and you can buy food for it, also for all the other values like improved community, social life and personal growth. As in love. The mailmen stop and snog, the passenger flirts with the busdriver, the teenagers hands meet over the fry-grill, and the two gay men eye each other lovingly over the supermarket checkout all day long to the soundtrack of "I Want to know what love is" by Foreigner. The super reads: "Love at work. Just one of the many reasons why more people should have a job".
Subtagline: Sweden's only workers party.

Here's the TV commercial for the Social Democrats in Sweden's election 2010. It depicts the business hubub of swapping cards and having meetings, the action in an operating room, the firemen off to quell a fire ... and in each scene a bored looking teenager still in their jammies shuffling along with the group. "207000 young people want to join in" the super reads "We can't wait. Social Democrats"

There's a lot of unemployment for young people in Sweden, so this ad flirts directly with them (and possibly their parents who want them out of the house already).