Toronto Mayoral race: John Tory camp launches a ‘Twister Chow’ game

I'm not going to profess any sort of expertise in the area of political communications.

I imagine that coming up with effective election campaigns, advertisements and gimmicks are challenging.

But come on! The campaign tool inventory in the Toronto mayoral campaign is weak, it's dull and it's downright cheesy.

Example 1: John Tory's 'Twister Chow' game

On Tuesday morning, as a means to take a shot at opponent Olivia Chow's alleged indecision on transit, the Tory campaign launched a variation of the classic board game Twister.

The game included Tory staffers tweeting questions about Chow's transit policies.

While general Twitter reaction to the game was a big thumbs down, right leaning pundit and political communications consultant Gerry Nicholls was a little more positive.

[ Related: Olivia Chow apologizes for photo-op with homophobic, sexist wrestler Iron Sheik ]

"It's not a bad idea; it is visual, it expresses a point in a simple manner — all the hallmarks of good political messaging," Nicholls told Yahoo Canada News.

"The reason such stunts are so gimmicky is that's what you need to do to attract media attention. This won't hurt Tory; people like it when a politician shows a sense of humour."

The stunt certainly did get our attention.

Example 2: Sarah Thomson rocks-out to Timber

Last week, mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson — who was excluded from the televised debate — released this parody of Pit Bull and Ke$sha's Timber.

Thomson actually has a good voice but...

The good folks at Toronto Life weren't big fans of it either.

"In a race full of candidates who seem almost pathologically afraid to offend voters, it’s a little refreshing to encounter one who will do things apparently without giving the slightest thought to how they might be perceived. (This is the same woman who arrived at city hall to file her nomination papers in a horse and carriage, and who launched her campaign with a barrage of subway-themed poetry and a video of her being interviewed by her grade-school-aged son.)," they wrote.

"On the other hand, the song is awful, and it does nothing to reassure voters that the person behind it is serious about leading the city."

Example 3: Is that Kevin Bacon or David Soknaki?

Here, mayoral candidate David Soknaki offers us his best impersonation of Kevin Bacon in Footloose in protest to the proposed ban of Electronic Dance Music at the CNE.

Unfortunately, his best impersonation could use a little work.

The political 'gimmicks' have to get better. Don't they?

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