Americans for Prosparody is hoping a million-dollar ad campaign using a controversial blend of comedy, satire, and artificial intelligence can turn disengaged voters against North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee in the state’s gubernatorial race.
The Democratic-leaning political action committee’s groundbreaking initiative marks the first time it has reserved air time on TV and created a long-form AI-generated ad, which launched in North Carolina on Tuesday.
Todd Stiefel, a Democratic donor and founder of Americans for Prosparody, told the Washington Examiner he believes his one-minute video has the ingredients to make politically disinterested people “let their guard down” and engage with Robinson’s controversial comments on Jews, blacks, and women.
“People let their guard down with humor and actually listen to enjoy the jokes. And in our case, they’re letting down their guard to listen to real things this guy has said and done. So I absolutely believe that humor can be used to reach people who normally are just tuning everything out,” Stiefel said during a phone call Tuesday.
The TV ad is reaching a variety of voters as it has been distributed on state TV news stations, Fox News, Newsmax, ESPN, and other channels in an effort that launched on the airwaves Tuesday.
“It’s going to be all over the place in North Carolina,” Stiefel said.
A.I. Mark Robinson invites you to check out just a few of Real Mark Robinson's deranged beliefs.https://t.co/AkWJyFNhO8
— Americans For Prosparody (@AmericansForPP) September 24, 2024
Americans for Prosparody is dedicated to “impact[ing] elections by running parody campaigns that lampoon despicable and anti-democratic politicians and institutions,” according to its website. Its current focus is on running the so-called “Mark Rottenson Governot” initiative, which is a satirical website dedicated to mocking Robinson’s alleged “extremist views.”
The ad, which makes it clear that it uses AI, may be geared to provide comedic political commentary, but one person’s not laughing: the Robinson campaign’s communications director, Mike Lonergan.
Lonergan knocked Stiefel’s ad as a “smear” campaign full of “fake AI clips” in comments to the Washington Examiner.
Lonergan called Stiefel a “far-left liberal and longtime Democrat Party and Stein campaign donor” and claimed that he “is a well-documented liar who has been sued by the SEC and factory workers for fraud and already busted for creating fake AI clips to lie to the voters about Mark Robinson.”
Stiefel admitted he is backing Robinson’s Democratic challenger, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, but argued his AI clips are above board.
“We are using this in a very over-the-top, direct, straightforward way,” he claimed.
While states, including California, are cracking down on “knowingly distribut[ing] an ad or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content,” Stiefel is confident his video exercises full transparency.
A full-screen disclaimer stating, “A.I. technology was used in this ad. The images and voice are not real, but these are all things GOP nominee for governor Mark Robinson has said and done” is played during the first five seconds of the video.
Meanwhile, Stein appeared to denounce Stiefel’s tactics in a February statement to WRAL News, even though he received thousands in donations from the founder of Americans for Prosparody.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Stein’s campaign for comment.
The organization’s new ad campaign against Robinson comes at a particularly vulnerable time for the gubernatorial hopeful. A CNN report released last week accused Robinson of making sexually graphic and racist comments on a pornographic site over a decade ago. Although he has denied the allegations and pressed forward with his campaign, the news cost Robinson vital support.
Two powerful Republican governors, one of them Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN), who heads the Republican Governors Association, confirmed Monday that they would no longer back Robinson.
Even before the damaging CNN report, Robinson faced criticism for controversial remarks he had made over the years. Americans for Prosparody was one of the groups the North Carolina Republican blamed for fueling what he deemed to be “salacious tabloid lies.”
I wanted to take a minute to address the latest outrageous lies coming from my opponent’s dishonest campaign: #ncgov #ncpol pic.twitter.com/RtteVUiozr
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 19, 2024
“I’m not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured these salacious tabloid lies, but can tell you this: There’s been a $1 million spend on me through AI by a billionaire’s son who’s bound and determined to destroy me,” Robinson said in a CNN interview.
Stiefel said Robinson was referencing him.
Americans for Prosparody launched in March and created a billboard campaign poking fun at Robinson days before the North Carolina Republican won the GOP gubernatorial primary. At that time, Stiefel said he had “about 22 billboards” up across the state.
The organization is self-funded by Stiefel, who is aiming to spend two million dollars on his media campaign against Robinson before Election Day.
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The gubernatorial race in North Carolina was competitive prior to the explicit report. While it is unclear whether Robinson can change the momentum, Stiefel is hopeful his campaign targeting disengaged voters can erase critical margins of support for the North Carolina Republican.
“I think it’s a really entertaining merger of comedy and political advertising in a way that is informative to voters,” he said.
