Super Enda

This post is brought to you courtesy of the free (but patchy) WiFi service on Citylink. Thanks Citylink!

I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest technological offering from Fine Gael, but if you haven’t, it’s a basic platform game which sees the Unquestioned Leader (well, unquestioned since he beat that leadership heave against him last summer) jumps across a course littered with leaders from other political parties and, for some reason, killer traffic cones. Enda has to avoid the traffic cones, which can mortally injure or kill him (even with the slightest contact), while fending off his opponents by throwing Fine Gael logo-style throwing stars, while collecting “Vote number 1” tokens  and passing targets representing the party’s five key points put forward in their manifesto for the general election. Yes, I am serious. You can find the game at www.finegael2011.com/game.

The overwhelming opinion on the newsfeeds on Facebook and Twitter is one of incredulity at the decision to festoon the front page of what will be Ireland’s leading political party after the election this Friday with a terribly lame game. The feel of it gives the impression of a poor effort you might have found on the Sega Megadrive nearly twenty years ago, the ending has the same ending as every level on Super Mario Brothers (complete with Enda giving a victory sign; all that’s missing is a GAA goalpost with a moving crossbar) and the only good point in it for many was the joy in being able to kill poor Enda again and again by making him fall onto one of those lethal traffic cones.

And yet, I think it’s a genius ploy. Yes, the gameplay is crap, and the whole concept at “being down with the kids“ and giving us a knock-off video game is completely cringe-worthy. But how many people linked to it on their Facebook pages? By last count, nine of my friends had. How many hits did that little stunt generate on Fine Gael’s website? I would imagine a five-figure number, easily. That’s a heap of free advertising for Fine Gael’s website, aimed squarely at young voters, clicked on by people who may well never ordinarily look at a Fine Gael site or document, and a chance to emphasise the party’s key proposals by getting players to run through the targets representing each of the five points. As a means of subtle propaganda, it’s pretty effective. And all Fine Gael had to do was put up a free video game. Fair dues to them.