Sesame Street tells Obama campaign to take down ad which mocks Romney by showing Big Bird as 'evil genius'



One of the most memorable moments of the first presidential debate was Mitt Romney's declaration, 'I love Big Bird' - despite promising to cut funding to PBS.



Now, in an attempt to salvage something from Barack Obama's disastrous night, the Democrats have exploited the incident for a sarcastic new campaign ad.



The 30-second video, released today, mocks Mr Romney for taking aim at the public broadcaster rather than cracking down on financial fraud.

But Sesame Street has criticised the Obama campaign for exploiting their character and demanded that the ad be cancelled and removed from the internet.



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Target: A new Obama campaign ad purports to attack the 'evil genius' of Sesame Street's Big Bird

Fired up: President Obama, pictured at a campaign stop in Ohio on Tuesday, has tried to capitalise on Romney's remarks about Big Bird during the presidential debate last week

The ad was inspired by the moment in last Wednesday's debate when the Republican candidate turned to moderator Jim Lehrer, a PBS host, and said he would defund the service.



'I'm sorry Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS,' he said. 'I like PBS - I love Big Bird, I actually like you too, but I'm going to stop borrowing money from China to pay for things we don't need.'

While Mr Romney was almost universally judged to have been the winner in the Denver debate, his reference to the popular Sesame Street character was widely mocked by his opponents.



The Obama campaign has attempted to capitalise on the controversy in its new ad, which is currently available on YouTube and is set to run on television in selected markets.

Bird is the word: A supporter in the front row holds a Big Bird book as President Obama speaks at a campaign event in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday

Promise: Mitt Romney has said he will cut funding to PBS if elected President next month

'Evil genius': The ad jokingly links Big Bird to some of the past decade's most heinous financial crimes

It opens with images of Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowski, three of the best-known white-collar criminals on recent times.



A voiceover says: 'Criminals. Gluttons of greed. And the evil genius who towered over them?'



The clip then cuts to a silhouette of Big Bird in a high-rise office, and the narration continues: 'One man has the guts to speak his name.'



Mr Romney is shown saying 'Big Bird' in three shots from the campaign trail, and the children's character appears to announce: 'It's me, Big Bird!'



The announcer says: 'Big. Yellow. A menace to our economy. Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you have to worry about - it's Sesame Street.'



The ad concludes with a shot of Big Bird and the message: 'Mitt Romney - taking on our enemies no matter where they nest.'

Beloved: The campaign commercial accuses Mr Romney of targeting Sesame Street instead of Wall Street

Controversy: The well-known children's character has been thrust into the heart of the election

Mr Obama embarked on a similar attack the day after the debate, when he told a crowd of supporters: 'Thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird. It's about time.

'We didn't know that Big Bird was driving the federal deficit, but that's what we heard last night.'

Last night, he made another Sesame Street reference, developing it into a joke about football star and murder suspect OJ Simpson.

'Finally, somebody is cracking down on Big Bird,' he said to an audience of donors in San Francisco. 'Elmo has been seen in a white Suburban. He's driving for the border.'



This is an apparent reference to Simpson's notorious low-speed car chase which was broadcast on live television in 1994.

Compensation: The ad is an attempt to draw positives from Barack Obama's poor debate performance

Sesame Workshop wrote in a statement that it had asked the campaign to stop running the ad, as it was exploiting 'a nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation' which does not 'participate in political campaigns'.

The organisation added: 'We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.'

In response to the latest ad, the Republican National Committee said: 'After failing to lay out a plan for his second term - let alone defend his first term - in last week's debate, all the President has been talking about recently to distract from his poor performance is Big Bird and Elmo.'

John McCain, the GOP's presidential candidate in the 2008 election, told NBC's Today that the ad showed 'a paucity of ideas in ways to criticise Mitt Romney'.



The Arizona senator said: 'The fact is, the economy is still in very bad shape, and obviously, the American people are still in very difficult conditions, and the one thing President Obama can't run on is his record. And so Big Bird is a fun thing to talk about.'



He threw his support behind the Sesame Street star, adding: 'I love Big Bird. I'm for an earmark for Big Bird.'