GOP Hopeful Jon Huntsman Releases New Inexplicable Motorcycle Ad

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by Frances Martel | 10:04 am, June 18th, 2011

» 20 comments

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is four days away from launching his official Republican presidential bid, and he has been teasing his announcement (set to occur, for some reason, in New Jersey) with avant-garde mini-films of a man riding a motorcycle through a desert. The first installment let the audience in on the secret of his old band. His new ad, released today, highlights the international nature of his family.

While it has been revealed that the man in the ad is not Huntsman, the attire and motorcycle do belong to the diplomat, and the facts airing as subtext are true. Neither of these facts brings any clarity as to how the ads work, though through the soothing music and the tranquil scenery of the desert, Huntsman may be attempting to aesthetically position himself as the anti-Tim Pawlenty.

The ad campaign has launched mass confusion among those who tend to cover such events, eliciting such headlines as “Jon Huntsman Rides Again” (for those who make an attempt to explain the ad) and “New Jon Huntsman Ad Makes No Sense, But You Can’t Look Away” (for those who don’t).

The ad’s director, no one will be shocked to find out, is Fred Davis, most famous for Carly Fiorina‘s “Demon Sheep” ad and Christine O’Donnell‘s “I’m Not a Witch” spot. If these are the campaign teasers, we can’t wait to see how Huntsman will actually try to convince people to vote for him.

The second ad, released today, below:

4 Days from Jon Huntsman Jr. on Vimeo.

2012 elections, Jon Huntsman, motorcycles, Republicans, WTF

TangledThorns

Huntsman will need to stand out with more than just this horrible ad.
The Lantern of Truth

We don’t need another Hell’s Angel running for President .
da-wdc

“most famous for Carly Fiorina’s “Demon Sheep” ad and Christine O’Donnell’s “I’m Not a Witch” spot”

If you make your name by making ads that gain a lot of attention for embarrassing your candidate, who then goes on to lose the election by a significant margin.. how do you still get hired to make more political ads?
Bill Huggins

“Avant-garde” is one way to describe it. Another is:WTF.

If Huntsman “approved of this message”; it’s going to be a really short but very entertaining campaign.
perceptorii

I believe Jim Geraghty put it best: “You laugh now, but when Huntsman launches his campaign with a spectacular Evel Knievel jump over an explosion, it will all make sense.”

http://twitter.com/#!/jimgeraghty/status/81744729955500032
LOGICandREASON

Nonsense!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-Kennedy/1439463341 Bruce Kennedy

“The ad campaign has launched mass confusion among those who tend to cover such events,”

Any time a Republican announces their intetion to run for President, it launches mass confusion. Leaving the majority of Americans scratching their heads and asking WHY?
Miroco

Huntsman’s campaign is a joke foisted upon the unwary by the ever so elite. It is a distraction to draw attention away from O’s abject failure and his decision to abdicate. It is funded by Hillary’s allies the Chicoms and she will emerge as the saviour from a cloud of smoking ruins. The scary bit is every time I work on a new joke or allude to a bit of irony it ends up proving true. I have no wish to be prophetic and don’t even know what “Avant-garde” means exactly, aside from stupid and unexplainable. “Congressional ethics” and “intellectual progressive” share the pinnacle of “oxymoronism” with”Huntsman campaign” and “Hillary qualifications”.
Nacho

Can’t top this for California congress position.

http://youtu.be/EZ3B8WvVjL4
da-wdc

Miroco said:
Huntsman’s campaign is a joke foisted upon the unwary by the ever so elite. It is a distraction to draw attention away from O’s abject failure and his decision to abdicate.

I’m voting to reelect Obama and I am pretty confident he’ll win, but I think you’re on the right track about the role of Huntsman in the race. I can picture GOP elites and more urbane party members and the few centrists that remain throwing their support to Huntsman because they’re embarrassed by the populist wing of the party. I just don’t think the timing is right. Because unlike Obama 2008, there doesn’t seem to be a hidden well of support on the Republican side for a cool, hip, new kind of candidate to lead the party and get people involved who previously hadn’t been. The people on the Republican side who are new to politics and looking to be inspired by a different kind of candidate are already organized, they’re called the Tea Party and they’re not going to support Huntsman in my opinion.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

He has a kid from India and from China? This man should be president.
ModerateMan

“I’m not Evil Knievel. I’m YOU.”

Fred Davis needs to hang it up.
WillP

This guy Fred Davis desperately needs to find another line of work. He doesn’t know anything about political advertising. Rule number one. Do not try to make your candidates look cool!!!!
WillP

da-wdc said:
I’m voting to reelect Obama and I am pretty confident he’ll win, but I think you’re on the right track about the role of Huntsman in the race. I can picture GOP elites and more urbane party members and the few centrists that remain throwing their support to Huntsman because they’re embarrassed by the populist wing of the party. I just don’t think the timing is right. Because unlike Obama 2008, there doesn’t seem to be a hidden well of support on the Republican side for a cool, hip, new kind of candidate to lead the party and get people involved who previously hadn’t been. The people on the Republican side who are new to politics and looking to be inspired by a different kind of candidate are already organized, they’re called the Tea Party and they’re not going to support Huntsman in my opinion.

Yes, you may be right. In that case, 2012 is not Huntsman’s year.The passion is clearly not with the establishment and Mitt Romney. Huntsman is in no way a Tea Partier. It will be real interesting to see how this plays out. My chips are on Michelle Bachmann at this moment. If she can be disciplined and not make radical statements she has a real shot in my opinion. There is no greater political operative than Ed Rollins running her campaign. He did remarkably well with Mike Huckabee before, but that was in 2008. This year the Tea Party is going to play a huge role in the primary which favors the economic populist candidates.
Nature Freak

John Huntsman seems to be a decent person. I suspect he is laying down the groundwork for 2016. The only way for Huntsman to have a chance is if Mitt Romney self destructs, which is unlikely to happen.
RoughAcres

Remember Ronald Reagan riding his horse? This is Huntsman’s version. Only it’s not him on the motorcycle.

Yes, he DOES have a kid from India and one from China. And I watched his C-SPAN ‘debut’ and saw how he USED his child – to her obvious discomfort. I heard how he disparaged how ‘weak’ the US is compared to China’s strength; I heard him talk about how demoralized Americans are and how modern China is.

I found him both extremely offensive and so obviously insincere that I felt I needed a shower when he was done talking. I don’t want a president who doesn’t believe in the optimism of the American people.

Huntsman IS the “Manchurian Candidate” we’ve all been waiting for.
http://none pyrope

Jon Huntsman’s father (Jon Huntsman, Sr.) is a great man, but Jr. is for some unfathomable reason a progressive. I can’t support the man as POTUS.
X-3

pyrope said:
Jon Huntsman’s father (Jon Huntsman, Sr.) is a great man, but Jr. is for some unfathomable reason a progressive. I can’t support the man as POTUS.

I can’t vote “FOR” him but if he’s on the ticket I will pull the lever by his name in voting against the incumbent.
X-3

X-3 said:
I can’t vote “FOR” him but if he’s on the ticket I will pull the lever by his name in voting against the incumbent.

I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Stratwray

Not him riding the bike? What’s up with that? Maybe the bike rider should run for President.