We here at Ads of the Weird have generally tried to stay away from political ads during this seemingly endless election cycle, preferring instead to leave the good, the bad and the ugly to our friends in the Politics section.

But this being Ads of the Weird, Election edition, we’re making an exception. No, we don’t plan to jump into the minefield of speculating as to whose ad is more effective/negative/misleading. Instead, we’re going to focus on the one thing we hope everyone can agree on: The right to vote.

This year, as in years past, there are a plethora of public service announcements aimed at getting people to the voting booth. And this year, as in years past, they run the gamut from pretty good to pretty embarrassing.

declareyourself.com

The freakiest "get out the vote" ad award goes to this spot  from Mobilize the Vote 2008, which seems to posit that if young people don’t vote they will end their days dressed like 19th-century peasants and living in some sort of abandoned warehouse. We do think voting is extremely important, but the cause and effect here strikes us as a tad overdramatic.

On the other hand, this "Rock the Vote" commercial, which plays out like a mini-police drama starring Adrian Grenier, keeps our attention and gets the point across: Voting is a personal responsibility, and it does make a difference.

It’s almost impossible these days to find a voting PSA that doesn’t rely on at least one high-profile celebrity urging Americans to vote, but famous faces don’t necessarily equal good commercials.

Declare Yourself’s "don’t vote by which we mean do vote" ad gets the award for the best misuse of a star-studded cast. A huge number of talented celebrities, ranging from Halle Berry to Dustin Hoffman, are packed into the five minute video, but the lame attempt to use reverse psychology ends up feeling forced, repetitive and a bit condescending. Even Sarah Silverman’s potty humor can’t save it. (Warning: This video contains some adult language.)

This more self-deprecating follow-up, featuring Steven Spielberg trying unsuccessfully to get celebrities to say "don’t vote," works much better.

Sometimes simple is best, though. While many people have accused us of being cynical, we were actually kind of touched by this Rock the Vote commercial featuring Christina Aguilera singing "America the Beautiful" to her infant. It’s effective and to the point.

It’s a measure of our times that Aguilera is using her vocal talents and her mommyhood to get out the vote. It seems like it was such as simpler, more innocent time when another pop icon, Madonna, was using a red bikini, and not much else in the talent department, to do the same.