Don’t Hope for Good Slogan — Copy One

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This morning we showed you John McCain’s new ad which ends with his new campaign slogan “Don’t hope for a better life; vote for one.”

But as TPM Reader AF points out, they seem to have copied it from a late-70s slogan Saatchi & Saatchi created for the UK Tory party.

From a 1997 article in the UK Telegraph (emphasis added) …

The first work produced for the party was a television broadcast devised by Charles, in which images of everyday Britain were run in reverse. The dramatic sequence was concluded with Michael Heseltine uttering the slogan: ‘Backwards or forwards, because we can’t go on as we are. Don’t hope for a better life; vote for one.’

It’s also referenced in this book.

Now, to be clear, I think this kind of borrowing is part and parcel of political messaging. It’s got a long history. It’s not ‘plagiarism’. It’s just borrowing a good line.

But it’s always worth keeping track of who the candidate is cribbing from.

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