Demon Sheep: Epic FAIL or Genius?

(Feb. 4) -- Carly Fiorina's latest campaign commercial is so ba-a-a-a-d it's great. Or it's a viral video hit for the wrong reason. Either way, you can't resist watching the "demon sheep ad."

But first, a few reviews:

"This must be seen to be believed, this latest inept volley from would-be California Senator Carly Fiorina. It is her attack ad against fellow Silicon Valley Republican person Tom Campbell, apparently assembled by the production team from 'Saturday Night Live.'" Ryan Tate, Valleywag

"It combines what sounds like the soundtrack to 'The Exorcist,' a narrator who sounds like he's imitating Morgan Freeman with the stratospheric dudgeon of Keith Olbermann's 'Special Comments', and then the grand finale: evil, menacing, vaguely cybernetic sheep with glowing red eyes." Jim Geraghty, National Review Online

"I hear this attack ad ... was supposed to headline the first night of this year's Cannes Film Festival being judged by Tim Burton. But that it got pulled for being a little too dark and upsetting." Dennis DiClaudio, Indecision Forever

See for yourself. Warning: This magnum opus runs more than three minutes. It's basically an overwrought attack ad sandwiched between two slices of crazy. Stick with it through the Monty Python-esque animation. Then, if you must, skip ahead. But brace yourself at the 2:25 mark for the appearance of the wolf in sheep's clothing -- the dreaded FCINO. No, it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as RINO (Republican in Name Only). It doesn't matter. You've never seen anything like this.


Time's Michael Scherer described it as "psychedelic" and recommended augmenting the experience by playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" while watching the ad.

"The coolest part of the whole thing is that Fiorina is positing fiscal conservatives as sheep, which is a bit like Barack Obama running a spot that posits liberals as leeches or lizards," Scherer observed. "Also, is it weird that the ad never shows Fiorina's face? Is it better that voters know their candidates by the backs of their heads?"

Like Scherer, Hot Air's Allahpundit thought it was odd to mock fiscal conservatives by portraying them as sheep. But both acknowledged the ad's irresistibility.

Allahpundit: "You want to put a guy in a sheep costume with red robot eyes and have him crawl around a pasture for awhile? Sure, I'll link it."

The ad has spawned an overnight Web phenomenon, with the obligatory Facebook page (Description: Haunting the dreams of Carly Fiorina since 2010.) and Twitter hash tag, #demonsheep.

"It's certainly gotten a lot of people's attention," Fiorina spokeswoman Julie Soderlund told Politico. "That's the purpose, being shocking, edgy, to produce something that people are talking about and something relatively inexpensive to produce."

People certainly are talking about the ad. It's what they're saying that could hurt the former Hewlett-Packard CEO in her quest to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

"Unless the Fiorina campaign's goal was to elicit actual out-loud laughter, then this is without a doubt The. Worst. Campaign. Ad. Of. All. Time.," Robbie Cooper declared on Urban Grounds. "Fiorina deserves to lose the primary election now. Based on nothing other than this ad itself."

The Awl blogger Choire asked: Who would vote for the person who made such a crazy video? (A: Crazy people.)

"Carly Fiorina has perhaps created the world's first self-directed attack ad," said Exurban Jon of the Exurban League blog. "Technology can create massive campaign momentum, as was seen in the case of Marco Rubio and Scott Brown. But going viral isn't all positive as Carly Fiorina is about to find out. Demon Sheep could be the 'Howard Dean scream' of the social media age."

"This thing's going viral, but not necessarily in a way that will help Carly Fiorina's message," noted The Weekly Standard's Mary Katherine Ham. "If I thought the creation of the demon sheep was an intentional Internet hit, I'd be impressed, but I'm not sure it was. Nor am I sure that the true inanity required to produce viral hits will ever be the kind of thing that serves political campaigns well, but here's to the Fiorina campaign for creating something we'll all remember."

Fiorina's Senate primary against Campbell and state Assemblyman Chuck Devore isn't until June. That leaves plenty of time for her campaign to produce a sequel. Coming soon ... Demon Sheep 2: Shear Madness?

We can only hope.