No but seriously, what the hell is happening in this Nick Xenophon ad?

Politicians in this country need to be taken seriously. Plain and simple.

But then they go and do something completely and utterly weird that leaves us wondering why anyone would ever elect them to make really important decisions that’ll affect our futures.

Nick Xenophon’s first election campaign ad for the South Australian election is one of those things.

If you haven’t seen it, well, here it is…

There are a great number of things we do not compute about this ad, which is airing ahead of the SA state election on March 17.

Let’s recap them.

First, there’s the whole Xenophon being – very poorly – super imposed onto the outside of Adelaide airport. In the opening seconds, we see two unsuspecting Adeladians on their way somewhere (probably Melbourne, let’s be real). Only they seem to be walking backwards – because “the state is going backwards”.

Hmmm. But is it? Because those people are actually walking forward and it’s just being played in rewind?

Oh Jesus then you realise Xenophon is rapping. This whole ad is a rap.

After Dean’s truly horrendous performance on Monday night’s Married At First Sight, did we not establish precisely no one sounds good rapping?

Then we cut to a choir of middle aged people (OK there are a couple of millennial in there too) singing:

We’re the best/we’re SA Best/ Come on and put us to the test.

Make a change in the NICK of time/Forget the rest/Vote SA Best.

The best way to sum it up would be - if Getty stock images had a baby with Hi 5, this singing montage would be it.

It's like when your mum showed up at the school disco to get groovy, or when dad still pretends to make gang signs with his arthritis fingers.

What follows is a series of shots of Xenophon doing things.

Being wheeled along in a hospital gurney to demonstrate SA's lacklustre healthcare system. Helping someone shift their hay. Laying down on said hay because doing farm work for five minutes is tough.

And the dancing kids! Showing off the park lands! So magical.

But guys. This was of course Xenophon's brilliant election campaign strategy - to get the public talking about how bloody weird his party ad is. Duh.

"[The SA-BEST is] the perfect antidote to the relentless negativity and sledging of the major parties. It’s about acknowledging the state’s problems but having a strong, positive message that we can fix the state’s problems if we work together," he explained on his Facebook page.

"Being a little bit cheesy is better than the poisonous ads that are being dished out by the major parties. We didn’t bag anyone. It’s a pretty unusual political ad because we didn’t bag our opponents."

I... guess so?