February 07, 2016
John Fetterman, if nothing else, is the most unique candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, and he reinforced that status with a special Super Bowl-themed commercial his campaign released Sunday.
The commercial parodies the famous "Hey Kid, Catch!" ad for Coca-Cola, which starred legendary Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle "Mean Joe" Greene.
Fetterman is mayor of Braddock, a small town not far from Pittsburgh, and in his parody he channels Greene as "Mean John." Watch the ad below:
Sure, the commercial is cheesy. But kudos to Fetterman for originality, especially considering that one of his Democratic rivals, Katie McGinty, and the Republican he's trying to unseat, Pat Toomey, have been accused of overusing stock footage and photos.
The ad makes note of the fact that Fetterman looks nothing like somebody who's seeking a job in Washington D.C.
"Where's your suit, and your flag pin," the child asks, referring to the candidate's refusal to dress conventionally.
Goofy but interesting ads like this one may help the Fetterman campaign deal with one of its biggest issue: name recognition.
A recent survey from the conservative-leaning Harper Polling found Fetterman behind his two challengers for the Democratic nomination -- McGinty and Joe Sestak -- by a large margin.
That same poll found that despite the national coverage Fetterman has gotten for his work in Braddock, more than half were "not sure" about Fetterman's image, a much larger percentage than for the other two candidates.
