While British party election broadcasts are known to get people talking, the UK Green Party added more spice than usual when it unveiled its provocative seven-spot package for the May 2002 local elections.

Spurning the traditional 4:40-minute broadcast film format, the seven 40- to 60-second spots - created by The Garden (a freeform environmental agency of sorts headed by RSA director Jack Price) and startup prodco The Vatican, both of London - discuss environmental issues such as global warming and local issues like the dilapidated state of Britain's railways. The ads ran back-to-back during the airtime allotted the party.

"We had quite a mixed response when it was shown on TV," says Green Party communications chief Spencer Fitz-Gibbon. "A number of people were offended by some of the material, but it got mostly a favorable response in the media. Everyone either loved it or hated it."

Most of the ire and acclaim was generated from three spots, which London-based digital marketing firm Digital Media Communications (DMC) launched virally.

"Frog," which highlights the insidious dangers of global warming, places an amphibian in a glass jar over a Bunsen burner. Voiced by Sir Ian Holm, the spot remarks that a frog in cold water jumps out when boiling water is added, but will just sit there if the water is slowly heated to a boil.

"Water Baby," which Vatican's Alan Fleming originally created for Greenpeace, uses similarly bold tactics as a baby is shown bobbing chin-high in water. Holm's VO says, "The polar ice cap is melting," and as he explains sea levels are predicted to rise three meters over the coming century, the water levels slowly creep up on the child.

And "Garage" enraged and engaged by implying a set of grandparents were gassing are their grandchild in a garage, illustrating the devastating effects of greenhouse gases. Fleming and DP Roger Eaton of the Vatican directed both "Frog" and "Water Baby." Price directed "Garage."

The low costs of launching the ads virally allowed the party to reach a wider audience. Running ads on the Internet means a financially marginalized group like the Greens can compete on more level ground.

"[The Greens] attitude is that with virals they can try to take on the big corporations because they're the people who are taking our headspace," says Price. "Even though we don't have the same budgets, we've got to be able to compete on their level.

RAISING AWARENESS

"The government in this country completely underestimates the level of environmental feeling," says Price, a former Labour Party supporter who became disillusioned with the government's politics while filming Tony Blair's party broadcast for the 2001 election.

Fitz-Gibbons agrees: "It was meant as a kind of wake up call. We need to get serious about climate change rather than just have rhetoric. A lot of the people who gave negative comments about the frog also said they agree with our many of our policies. They just think we went too far.

"Sometimes I think people are more interested in seeing a controversial TV ad than they are in something about global warming," Fitz-Gibbons adds. "To me, what is the big thing wrong in the world? Is it global warming or the fact that the Green Party has chosen a fairly hard-hitting way of alerting people to it?"

Interestingly, the project proved to be so contentious that many of the top industry creatives who volunteered their services did so under a cloak of anonymity, fearing professional repercussions.

"There is this conflict," says Price. "Basically, you can work for Marlboro and then go work for Ford, but it's very hard to do something with a conscious; people have a problem with it."

Being a fringe political party, the Greens did not have heavy funding so much of the work was done at reduced cost or pro bono.

"It cost a lot less than it would have if we'd paid Jack what we should," says Fitz-Gibbon. "We got a professional film for much less than it would have cost in the commercial world." And Price quips he paid those involved in the project "50 quid and a pint of beer."

"[This campaign is] a kind of thing that feels good to do, and at the same time it gave us opportunity to get another piece of film on reel," says Fleming of the project, which was shot in his flat with four cameras, a dolly, two babies and moms, a crew of 15 and a tank of water.

Delivery methods and cost effectiveness aside, all of this raises the question, "Does controversy sell politics?"

"I suspect [the campaign] had a neutral effect," says Fitz-Gibbons. "It probably got a lot of people thinking, and I think it put the Green Party on the map, and that's a big success. But I suspect it didn't pull in a lot of votes the way some of our other, more traditional broadcasts have."

Webfiles:
The Green Party> www.greenparty.org.uk
The Garden> www.ae-pro.com/thegarden
DMC> http://www.dmc.co.uk