I'm home sick today with what is either H1N1, severe neck and intra-skeletal damage from dragging around concrete patio blocks in my backyard the other day or possibly a slow-developing brain aneurysm.
For that reason, I wasn't able to attend the “BBQ With The NDP Leader” event that happened in a Regina park this evening. That's too bad because I was hoping I might get a moment alone with Mr. Layton to pass along some advice I'm sure he's heard before – namely, that he should shave that 'stash.
Now I know his moustache has become a bit of a running joke for people – mostly on the right but the odd person on the left. I'm not joking about this and am quite serious that I think it's the right thing to do for a number of reasons.
I've tried to pass along this advice once before when I was randomly invited to a focus group which turned out to be a chance to provide feedback about some potential ads the NDP were planning to run in one of the recent federal elections. After giving my thoughts on the ads, I made the point that ads were good and all but that I believed the federal NDP's best chances for success hinged on Mr. Layton shaving his moustache. I didn't get into my thinking on this and obviously, my comments never made it back to NDP HQ anyhow as the ol' soup strainer remains to this day.
But now that he's in Regina, perhaps surfing around on his Blackberry in his hotel room or while waiting for a flight out at the airport, I thought I'd recap my arguments against the stash:
– rightly or wrongly, many Saskatchewan people take their grooming very seriously, especially in regards to our leaders. For example, Regina is a town that nearly had a collective conniption just a couple months ago when our otherwise popular mayor let his hair grow out past his ears.
– men without moustaches look younger which will make you appear more energetic and dynamic – a great selling point in our youth-oriented culture (those qualities didn't hurt Obama or even our own Premier Brad Wall.)
– shaving your moustache would also send a symbolic message to the electorate that you best represent change for our nation (er, unless the Liberals regularly changing leaders signifies changes better? Nah…)
– a common thing you hear from people out here is that the moustache makes you look like a used car salesman. Worse, you're from Toronto and there are a number of people in the West (not me, I add hastily!) who think that everyone from Toronto is the equivalent of a used car salesman – trying to sell you something you don't want or need or otherwise take advantage of you somehow.
– Here's the ultimate visual that proves my point – someone has worked up a before & after photo. The guy on the left looks like he could've been the Prime Minister of Canada…in 1939. The guy on the right looks like he could be the leader today!
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