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Dancing Cossacks political TV ad
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The National Party's 1975 'dancing Cossacks' advertisement is probably the most famous - or infamous - piece of election advertising in New Zealand's political history. National sought to turn voters against the Labour government by suggesting that the latter's recently introduced compulsory superannuation scheme might lead to Soviet-style Communism (conveniently ignoring the fact that the Cossack peoples had traditionally been opponents of the Bolsheviks). It did the trick too, helping sweep Robert Muldoon's National Party into power in a landslide victory.
Ref: C1555. Video from National Party 1975. Superannuation, 1975 TVC. Courtesy of the National Party. Sourced from the New Zealand Film Archive/Nga Kaitiaki o Nga Taonga Whitiahua.
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YahooHow to cite this page: 'Dancing Cossacks political TV ad', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/video/dancing-cossacks, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 26-Jun-2008
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