deeply profound or deeply wacky?

There has been much said about the direction political advertising is going, on the whole negativity seems to have been favourite over recent campaigns with one estimate suggesting 48% of all advertising in the UK 2005 general election was an attack. The US has of course led the way with negativity, and it is argued to work though the effects can be negative on the creator, the political system as well as on the candidate under attack.

However it seems one candidate is taking an alternative route. Mike Gravel, a left-wing Democrat appears to be trying to say a great deal by saying nothing (in the below ad named 'Rock')



and almost purely using symbolism in the Youtube video 'Fire' (below). Too clever by half or a refreshingly alertnative way of getting a message across?



He is not seen as a serious contender, perhaps the ad style is symbolic of this alone or his standing is symptomatic of his rather wacky approach. It may be interesting to see this replicated.