Amongst this racket, the Green Party has delivered a billboard that paints a clear and concise picture of where a vote for them will be headed – straight to our planet.

The Greens tap not only into a colour with an obvious connection to their ideology, but a concept that has a pivotal place in our pseudo-identity as ‘Clean, Green New Zealand’. Set to the kind of impressive scenery we pride ourselves on, we are just about tipped off the end of a pier into murky, green waters where something seems a miss. Yet the focal point of this billboard is a child that stands between us and the body of dissolved pounamu-green water.

Then last night John Campbell interviewed Mike Hutcheson, formerly of Colenso, Communicado, and Saatchi and Saatchi and now with the Lighthouse Ideas Company, to talk political advertising. Hutcheson ripped into first National’s taxcut billboard:

“This one in particular looks like it was written by an undertaker… They are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory … it’s so bland it’s vanilla.”

then Labour Helen Clark effort:

“They must think we’re fools because we see her [the Prime Minister] every day looking like somebody else… If this is a campaign about trust I’m not sure we can trust someone who makes herself look different… Too presidential for my liking.”

Before turning to the Greens:

“Oh, they’re great.  They are actually too flash for the Greens.  They have someone who knows what they are doing do it for them.”