AND NOW, A REVOLUTIONARY WAY TO RUN FOR RENE

By Juan Montoya

We've got to admit that the Advertising 101 class we took when we were in college was not really our cup of tea.

Imbued as we were with the notion that anyone of us could be the next Woodward or Bernstein, we barely eked out a "B" in the course. Other, more practical students, did embrace the advertising concepts with a flair. Over the years the concepts have been refined and we're sure that what passed for advertising appeals in the 70s and 80s are now passe.

Now, we've all heard of no-name candidates and dark horses. But have you ever heard of a no-face candidate? What would the strategy be there, we wonder?

Could it be that the candidate is so well known that you really don't need to show his face? Or that the name has been around so long that even the dead would rise from their graves, upturn their tombstones, and vote for him?
These thoughts come to mind as we cruise around town at our daily chores and see the campaign signs or sit in our living room reading the Sunday paper which is favored by candidates to run their costly ads.

The Sunday Brownsville Herald ad for State Rep. Rene Oliveira caught our eye this Sunday. Take gander at it. We've heard of ghost workers and phantom workers, but a ghost candidate?

The insertion of a blank spot where Rene's face should have been left us wondering whether a brand new strategy was being implemented in his candidacy.

At the northeast corner of the Cameron County parking lot on Harrison Street, there is also an Oliveria sign. This one, also, has a square cut into where his face would have been. Is this a pattern, or merely circumstance?

Then, at the corner of Frontage and 7th Street, Oliveira's sign is the only one gracing the chain link fence of Pinkerton Memorials, the tombstone manufacturer in Brownsville. Subliminal suggestion?

As we said, we were terrible in advertising, but we understand that Rene's account if being handled locally by Melissa Zamora's Elite Promotions. Maybe it's a new twist that we don't understand.