"See what happens when you ask Bain for family advice?"
That's the new tagline of a series of three satirical web videos released Thursday by UnitedNY, one of the groups backing the Bain Workers Bus Tour, a coalition of current and former employees of companies purchased by Bain Capital Partners, the private equity firm founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The videos, set in a fictional psychiatrist's office, feature the Bain Capital monster, a "Star Wars" style foam rubber villain who made his debut this week during protests outside Bain Capital's midtown Manhattan offices.
In the videos, the monster offers the lead character, a young woman, advice on how to manage her parents, her children, and her marriage.
"You could get rid of those old parents," says the monster, "and bring in new ones, younger, healthier ones, with fewer entitlements."
Throughout his presidential campaign, Romney has struggled to sell his politically unpopular Social Security reform plans to voters skeptical of his intention to raise the retirement age and begin means-testing recipients, many of whom have paid into the retirement insurance throughout their working lives.
In another skit, the Bain Capital monster suggests the young woman "outsource" her children to China and Bangladesh, where he says "you can find some very obedient children." Despite Bain Capital's record of having saved a number of companies, Romney has faced criticism over some cases where Bain Capital purchased companies only to close U.S. manufacturing plants, and move operations overseas.
In the third skit, the Bain Capital monster encourages the woman to seek out a Cayman Islands tax shelter after she complains about financial strains on her marriage, asking her, "how often have you had these feelings, like you have to pay taxes?"
Romney's effective tax rate of approximately 14 percent has been a sore spot throughout his presidential campaign, despite his reasonable, and legal, explanation that the majority of his income is in the form of capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate than earned income.