Bertrand Newton

Bertrand Newton is a fictional character created by the Australian comedian Charles Firth for his book "American Hoax" (2006). He is named for the Australian comedian Bert Newton.

Bertrand Newton is the founder the 527 political action committee (PAC) AdBack. Newton is author of the influential booklet on political advertising "How to Change the World One Ad At A Time" (2004).

AdBack is one of a raft of non-profit companies that were formed to support the Democratic Party in the 2004 Presidential elections. The non-profit company designed advertisements for several niche markets in the United States presidential election, 2004, including the award winning "GayBack" TVC that aired in the crucial swing state of Ohio.

Newton's philosophy on political advertising, and organising methods have their roots in organizations like MoveOn.org and have been closely connected to George Soros's Open Society Foundation project.

Born in 1972, Newton started out as a student activist in the early 1990s, during which time he got involved in the "No Blood For Oil" coalition at Berkley Campus of UCLA which split the movement and ultimately led to his expulsion from the Californian Peace Coalition. He later studied at Oxford University in England.

External links

* [http://americanhoax.typepad.com/ American Hoax]
* [http://www.moveon.org/ MoveOn]
* [http://www.soros.org/ Open Society Institute]
* [http://www.adback.org/ AdBack]