GetUp – voting begins for DIY Aussie election ads: check them out

‘Oz in 30 seconds’ is the very-short-video contest launched by progressive agitators GetUp earlier this year. Ads in a variety of styles and on a wide variety of themes – broken political promises, climate change, transparency, indigenous trauma, health, education, nuclear power, human rights, native forests, increased police powers, and even just direct insult – have been home made by Aussies, Kiwis, everybody all over and are now available here for viewing and voting.

Check it out – GetUp are web-1337 and user-friendly so voting is simple, relay speeds are fast, and with 6 ‘ads’ viewable per voting screen, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like at least one per set. The system has just gone online and some minor glitches are being smoothed right now. If you’re not real keen on the voting aspect, you can just check out the most viewed clips, and the highest rated clips.

own favourite 5 so far are:
Help Protect Australia from Emotional Terrorism (perfectly underplayed satire),
Oil (awesome little rock-anime), Gary’s Bad Day (which is quite cute and looks like part of a series of Gary-bites), and the significantly excellent National Emergency which is one of many excellent shorts addressing the crises facing indigenous Australians and probably the only one to do it so thoroughly – very, very worth watching. Ironically, Remember… is also there for the awesome line read by a Jack Thompson vocal-clone, “Remember 1942, when the Aborigines bombed Darwin?”

It’s actually a really good medium for gauging what random individuals and communities spread all over Australia are concerned about most this federal election. Interactivity is the bonus – you can help pick the winning ad which will be run on Australian TV in the lead up to The Howard v Rudd SlamDown 2007. Or maybe you’ll want a say in the forum – some of these efforts are really quite amazing.

Whatever your politics, do check this out. It really is the leading edge in the potential of grassroots online communications to create communities, share ideas, disagree, and have real impact.