PSSST, THE NARROWNESS OF ITS APPEAL IS THE FUNNIEST PART OF THE AD:

Census aims to ensure affluent, educated white liberals are counted: A massive campaign includes five 30-second spots from mockumentary master Christopher Guest that not only ignore the poor and minorities but may further fuel right-wing anger over the tallying effort. (Dan Neil, January 19, 2010, LA Times)

On Sunday -- during the broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC -- the [Census] bureau kicked off its 2010 campaign with the first of five 30-second spots directed by mockumentary master Christopher Guest [...]

The trope -- a making-of documentary -- is familiar to Guest fans. Ed Begley Jr. plays Hollywood director Payton Schlewitt, whose Big Idea is to take a "snapshot of America," everyone, all at once. For this effort he is recruiting his production team, played by actors Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge and Don Lake, who are regulars in Guest films including "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show" or "For Your Consideration." While Schlewitt pitches his loony idea, two production assistants whisper to themselves that the Census Bureau is already doing a snapshot of America.

The next 30-second spot will continue the thread, with Schlewitt at a production meeting figuring out how, exactly, he's going to take his snapshot. As kid-gloved satire of Hollywood, the spots aren't bad, and obviously Guest's acting company is immensely likable and familiar.

Familiar to me, that is: a white, educated, affluent baby boomer. For people like me, Christopher Guest (Nigel in "Spinal Tap") might as well be one of the 12 Apostles. What isn't clear is how this helps the Census Bureau's effort to reach out to the poor, to ethnic minorities and to the disenfranchised, all groups that are typically undercounted in the census. I mean, Ed Begley Jr. is so white he's practically chalk.

Isn't this a lot of money to spend reaching out to a demographic that has the least to fear from government and is, therefore, the most likely to respond to the census?