Political ads can be downright scary these days. Between Donald Trump’s increasingly apocalyptic videos about his rival’s alleged failures, and Hillary Clinton’s somber videos about Trump’s critical views of women, US political ads seem like trailers for a movie you want to avoid.
But away from the jabs and insults of the US presidential campaign, a light-hearted ad by a local Texas politician is giving us all the break — and the laughter — we need.
“Gerald really doesn’t have any hobbies,” is the opening line of the ad that introduces Gerald Daugherty, a Republican seeking re-election as a Travis County Commissioner.
In the one-minute video, which was posted on YouTube earlier this month, Daugherty is portrayed as an amiable family man who can’t stop talking about how to fix problems in Travis County, in south central Texas.
Daugherty geeks on about the cost per inmate in the county jail as he helps his wife, Charlyn, wash the dishes. She’s obviously used to hearing him drone on, and rolls her eyes for the camera.
He’s also seen boring dinner guests with highly technical talk about tax rate minutiae and later demonstrating transportation solutions with slices of his steak.
“All he wants to do is fix things,” Charlyn explains.
She clearly wants him out of the house.
As they fold laundry together, he discusses an 18-wheeler parked in a neighborhood “spewing fumes all over the place,” but notes that it’s not a code violation. Then he says he enjoys helping his wife around the house, as if he might do it more often.
More eye-rolling ensues.
“Please re-elect Gerald. Please,” Charlyn pleads, looking directly into the camera.
The rare self-deprecating tone of the ad has made it go viral.
The campaign managers for Trump and Clinton might want to take note. Ads that make people laugh — and not ones that raise their blood pressure — tend to go down better with voters.
As it is, the current trending US political ad — less than a month away from Election Day — is not by the leading contenders for the White House. Instead, it’s from a local politician who just wants to fix things in Travis County.