I feel this is appropriate to two sections...
As a 'fan' of the Soap I was watching tonight and to my amazement I saw an election leaflet belonging to Claire O'Regan who is a candidate in North Inner City hanging on a noticeboard in Paul's kitchen.
Now I've got nothing against the woman at all and wish her well in the election but found it amazing that RTE would so openly advocate her candidacy over everyone else in her Ward...
FOR THE SECOND TIMEOriginally Posted by Silvio Dante
They were not endorsing her. They use leaflets and posters from all candidates and all parties in the area where the fictional Carraigstown is located. They will have been on to FF, FG, Labour, SF, the Greens and independents, and one by one will use the stuff they received. All that happened was that tonight it was the time to use O'Regan's stuff. Next week it will be someone else. As it is set in Dublin Central, you will set posters of Paschal Donohoe and all the other candidates come the by-election, and you will also see posters for all the European candidates appearing on the streets of 'Carrigstown'.
It is normal.
It is standard.
It is done all the time.
Your post is much ado about nothing.
I've not seen one leaflet of poster for any other candidate...
They have no business doing it at all.
It is 50 f*cking days to the poll yet.
They do this all the time. Every election.
They have to start somewhere with someone. This year they started with O'Regan. So f-ing what? They have numerous programmes left to get in the rest.
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
I find it amazing that a primetime Soap can be allowed to endorse one particular candidate no matter who they are or party they represent... It's never been done before to my knowledge and I've never seen such promotion in any other elections...It is 50 f*cking days to the poll yet.
They do this all the time. Every election.
They have to start somewhere with someone. This year they started with O'Regan. So f-ing what? They have numerous programmes left to get in the rest.
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
For the umpteenth time, they are not endorsing any candidate. They show every candidate's stuff.
And I can state for a fact that it has been done in past elections. I helped deliver the leaflets and posters out to Montrose for use during the 2007 general election. If you think it has not been done before then you obviously missed it being done when it was done in 2007. It is standard.
They do it simply because it would be nonsensical to have a soap set in a specific location in a specific city in a specific election and pretend that the residents of that location were the only people in Ireland not to get leaflets in the door.
It isn't done blatantly. Things will crop up. A leaflet will be shown among post inside a door. A poster will be seen in the distance on a street lamp. Guys will be shown in the background leaflet dropping while two characters stand on the street chatting. Someone will switch on a radio and hear a mention of "more election news coming up later", all to give context to the location. They are not, and do not, promote candidates, and frankly if anything I'd be p*ssed off if I was O'Regan that by the luck of the draw she was on so early. She might have preferred to crop up later on closer to election day.
But it is done randomly. And so you will see posters of Gay Mitchell, Mary Lou, Eoin Ryan etc appearing in the background. You will see other of O'Regan's rivals cropping up. But they are so careful that in fact they usually appear for exactly the same length of time, in the background, and usually only political junkies (or the candidates themselves, who get all excited at seeing themselves on Fair City!) even notice it.
I'm not calling you a liar but I'd like ot see something official from RTE confirming this... Tonight was a huge free publicity stunt for Claire and Labour, no question about it...
Absolute bunkum.
It is part of a series of leaflets being used from everyone. Tonight was her night. Others will be on. As for publicity, the only people who notice those sort of things are political hacks. Ordinary people don't notice and don't care, any more than they will care when the local FF candidate's leaflet is on, the local Fine Gael candidate's leaflet is on, the local SF candidate's leaflet is on, etc, all of which will be happening over the next few weeks also.
You seriously are letting your imagination run riot, Silvio. What normally happens is that they contact the candidates' teams to say "guys, as you know Carraigstown is set in Ward X of Dublin Central. To reflect what is going on in that area right now with the locals, could you get in some posters and leaflets into us? We'll use them as a backdrop so that our street looks no different to any other street of that type during election time." Some candidates will respond by saying 'No. I couldn't be bothered.' Others will say 'sure' and send someone to pick up a couple of pieces and drive down to Montrose with them.
And guess what? Hardly anyone even notices. Last time two different candidates went hyper with excitement at their chance to be seen in posters on the tele. Everyone gathered around a video of it later that night to see Bella or someone walking past their picture on a street light. They then went on the canvass the next night expecting to have people say "Hey, I saw your man on Fair City last night." Not a single solitary person even noticed.
If O'Regan was on tonight it was probably because her team was first in to deliver (about 5) leaflets and (about 3) posters to RTÉ. They are simply used for backdrop. No-one other than party hacks even notices it, just as no-one but a carpenter may notice that a front door wouldn't open the way it does on the set, or no-one but a cook would notice that the kitchen in the Rovers Return simply wouldn't be suitable to make Betty's hotpot in. Only hardened fanatics notice that for ages people were walking to the smoking hut at the back of the Rovers down a tunnel that actually wouldn't bring them into the back of the Rovers but into Ken and Deidre's sitting room! Or that no architect would build Ashley's house the way it was designed, and how come the stairs keeps moving location?
If it wasn't for your thread I doubt if even Fair City fans on this site would have noticed the leaflet. It is purely for context. She will not win a single vote through appearing for a split second on FC. Nor will her rivals when they appear on it either. They are used purely so that the street would not look unusual to people in Dublin Central who will see every other lamp post covered in posters and every other door full of leaflets. That is all, and is standard.
Last edited by TommyO'Brien; 16th April 2009 at 10:39 PM.
Fair City ?????
Who or where is that.?
Never heard of it.
Obama - the first half White US President
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote