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Directed by: Various Directors Written by: Various Writers Starring: Various Actors; Hosted by Janeane Garofalo; Performances and presentations by Chuck D, Al Franken, Moby, Michael Moore, John Sayles, Julia Stiles & Rufus Wainwright What the box says: Year after year, a few dozen Washington consultants make the great majority of political ads. They look the same, they sound the same - even the actors seem familiar. Perhaps as a result, voters tune out, even when there are critically important messages to convey. For the last three years, President Bush's policies have ransacked the environment, put our national security at risk, damaged our economy, and redistributed wealth from the middle class to the very wealthiest Americans. Yet thanks to complacent media, the President has managed to hide behind a carefully constructed "compassionate" image. As the 2004 election nears, it's crucial that voters understand what President Bush's policies really mean for our country. And to do that, we need creative new ads that clearly show what's at stake. That's why we decided to launch Bush in 30 Seconds, an ad contest intended to bring new talent and new messages into the world of mainstream political advertising. The goal was to find the ad that best explains what President Bush and his policies are really about in only 30 seconds. The Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest succeeded beyond our wildest dreams, sparking a nationwide debate and international attention and exposure for the winning ad. The Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest has been developed and run by a small team of people: Laura Dawn, David Fenton, Moby, Eli Pariser, Lee Solomon, and Jonathan Soros. We came together because we believe that by tapping into the vast talent pool of creative people outside of Washington, we'll find the right messages and ads to expose the failure of President Bush's policies. Bush in 30 Seconds is a project of the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, a new 527 fund affiliated with MoveOn.org, the pre-eminent online advocacy group in the United States. The Voter Fund's mission includes creating and running powerful political ads in swing states to challenge President Bush's policies and his administration. MoveOn.org, the Voter Fund's sister organization, is an online grassroots advocacy organization with nearly two million members nationwide. It exists to give people a voice in shaping the laws and policies that affect our lives. As the finalists can attest, Bush in 30 Seconds came together very quickly. The contest was announced on October 29th, 2003. Ads were due on December 5th. We were expecting maybe 300 ads to be submitted, so when we received over a thousand (over 700 coming in on the final day), we were shocked. As we started to look through the ads, we were amazed again by the creativity, humor, and intelligence they demonstrated. That's when we began talking about this event - the ads seemed worthy of celebration. On December 17th, we launched an online voting process in which anyone could view ads and rate them. By the end of the month, over 110,000 people had submitted more than 2.9 million ratings to determine the final 15. These ratings also determined the People's Choice Award for the overall best ad. Those ads, which are featured on this DVD, were sent to our panel of celebrity judges - people whose expertise is in connecting with Americans. They each nominated a winner and runner-up, and the overall winner was the ad that received the most votes from the judges. The judges are: Film star-musician Jack Black, music video director Benny Boom, political strategists Donna Brazile and James Carville, comedian Margaret Cho, actor Hector Elizondo, author-comedian Al Franken, comedian and commentator Janeane Garofalo, political pollster Stan Greenberg, film producer Ted Hope, film and stage performer Jessica Lange, writer-filmmaker Michael Mann, recording artist Moby, author-filmmaker Michael Moore, filmmaker Mark Pellington, actor-producer Tony Shalhoub, hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, musician-film producer Michael Stipe, critic and editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel, film director Gus Van Sant, and musician-activist Eddie Vedder. Brent's Note: Just in case the box description doesn't make it clear, this DVD contains 59 anti-Bush commercials. These commercials were contest submissions to MoveOn.org; some are funny, some are deadly serious, all of them are thought-provoking. If you love commercials and you hate George W. Bush, you'll love this DVD! |
