Demon Sheep

The Demon Sheep or Demon Sheep ad is a political ad created as part of Carly Fiorina's 2010 campaign for the United States Senate. The ad gained international attention for its characterization of Fiorina's opponent as a wolf in sheep's clothing, portrayed by a man wearing a sheep costume with glowing red eyes. Although opinion remains divided as to the effectiveness of the ad in supporting Fiorina's campaign, it is widely regarded as one of the most bizarre and memorable political advertisements ever devised.

In 2010, Carly Fiorina, a businesswoman then best known as the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, entered the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat then held by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Among her opponents was Tom Campbell, a former congressman who had served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1989 and 2001, representing California's 12th and 15th congressional districts. Early polling suggested that Campbell held a substantial lead over Fiorina. For a promotional ad opposing Campbell, the Fiorina campaign turned to Fred Davis, an advertising executive who had gained notoriety for his 2008 ad depicting then presidential candidate Barack Obama as a celebrity akin to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad, released on Fiorina's campaign website in February 2010, quickly gained international attention.

The ad, which runs about three minutes and twenty seconds, opens with an idyllic scene of sheep running and grazing in a sunny meadow, as a female narrator extols the supposed virtues of fiscally conservative politicians: "purity, piety: our fiscal conservative leaders. Men we admire; aspire to be: wholesome, honorable, true believers. Men like Tom Campbell, who would never lead us astray; his pedestal, so high..." From behind the hillside, a cut-out animation in the style of Terry Gilliam depicts a sheep rising into the sky on top of a Doric column. Suddenly, the sky darkens, storm clouds roll in, and lightning strikes the pillar, which vanishes. The sheep then tumbles end-over-end in slow motion, as ominous music begins to play, and the original narrator gives way to a stern male voice (veteran actor Robert Davi), questioning Campbell's record and credentials as a fiscal conservative.

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