One problem: the footage is at least six and a half years old.

How do we know? Sharp-eyed San Franciscans spotted ETI trolleybuses in the supposedly current clips. Those buses made their last runs in September 2019 — well before anyone had even heard of COVID-19, let alone "recovered" from it. So the ad's entire visual thesis — look how far we've come! — is built on imagery from a city that no longer exists in that form.

This isn't just sloppy production. It's emblematic of how political campaigns on both sides treat voters: like marks who won't bother checking the details. You dress up old footage, slap a new narrative on it, and hope nobody notices. It's insulting, and it undermines whatever legitimate arguments the anti-Prop D side might actually have.

And let's be clear — there are legitimate arguments to be made about the economics of CEO tax proposals and whether they actually accomplish anything beyond making people feel good. But you don't make those arguments by fabricating a visual narrative. You make them with data, with honest debate, with respect for the electorate.

As one local put it, the level of discourse from these supposedly "grassroots" campaigns is "never there for anyone to take it even remotely seriously." Hard to disagree when the campaigns can't even be bothered to use footage from the correct decade.

San Francisco voters deserve better than warmed-over B-roll and recycled talking points. If your case against a proposition can't survive without misleading visuals, maybe your case isn't as strong as you think it is. At minimum, spring for a new camera crew. The trolleybuses gave you away.