Who said Labour has lost its sense of humour? The party has produced this witty personalised video lampooning David Cameron's "big society" in which people will be invited to join the government of Britain.

Labour believes the big society is a PR makeover of an old Tory idea to shrink the state. It says that Burke's "little platoons" were all very well in the 18th century when high-minded charitable groups helped relieve poverty. But Labour says they are wholly inappropriate in the 21st century when only state action can tackle inequalities.

The video is set in the future, when the big society is well under way. It opens with a harassed mother, dressed as a lollipop lady, walking into the kitchen. As her kids shout out that they're tired – her daughter's been tarmacking the road – she answers the telephone as the police and the parole board. Finally she takes a 999 call.

The funniest bit is when the mother asks the viewer whether they'd like to buy a raffle ticket:

It's for the GPs' wages in two weeks time. We were fine for next week because we had a sponsored silence which wasn't easy because it was my turn interviewing claimants at the dole office.

The video is being sent out to thousands of people. An early recipient was Benedict Brogan, the blogging deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph.

If you receive a copy your name will appear on post-it notes during the video. In the end your name appears as the mother telephones you to ask why you didn't vote Labour on 6 May.

Douglas Alexander, Labour's general election coordinator, said:

The video is a light-hearted way of making a serious point – that in truth the Tories' big society is nothing more than abandoning public services. The Tories plan for DIY public services mean no guarantees for patients, parents or communities.

The Tories are laughing off the video. But the big society is a sensitive issue for them. A series of senior Tories told me last month that it was crashing on the doorstep. One shadow minister told me:

The big society needs to be turned into more practical, voter-friendly language. We need to turn Oliver Letwin's Hegelian dialectic into voter friendly stuff.

Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary who is one of the brains behind the big society, showed the leadership's sensitivity on this on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning. Under questioning from Evan Davis about what is meant by the big society, he said:

It's often the case that the metropolitan media classes tend to be dismissive of the extent to which people across the country are unhappy with public services and want a government that's prepared to listen ... The big society is about citizens making sure local services are more responsive to them.

Gove will probably be sent one of the videos. The high-minded Oxford scholar will not be amused.