Baton Rouge residents have been “Kipnotized” for the past eight years of Mayor-President Kip Holden’s reign over the capital, but citizens are split over whether it’s a positive thing.

In the Baton Rouge mayoral race, Holden and candidate Mike Walker are both using variations on the term “Kipnotize” to advance their campaigns.

Depending on whose campaign uses the term, “Kipnotism” can be negative or positive.

The phrase originated from Holden’s campaign a few years ago, according to campaign adviser Rannah Gray.

“Someone in the group said, ‘We’re going to get this film because he’s going to Kipnotize them to come to Baton Rouge,’” Gray said.

Gray said it was a joke relating to Holden’s powers of persuasion.

Then, on Holden’s 60th birthday, his staff put a banner up that read, “Let’s get Kipnotized.”

“People went crazy over it,” Gray said.

But this past summer, Walker used the term in a radio spot and two television ads to describe Holden’s speaking to constituents about his views on crime rate in the city.

One of Walker’s YouTube ads shows a watch swinging back and forth, while Holden announces that violent crime rates in Baton Rouge have decreased over the past few years.

The words on screen read, “Are you being Kipnotized?”

Roy Fletcher, one of Walker’s campaign advisers, said their use of the term originated “from rhyming words.”

“I’ve never seen anybody get so sensitive about it. It’s not ugly, just politics,” Fletcher said.

After Holden’s side of the campaign heard the radio spot for Walker that used “Kipnotize” in a negative light, Gray said the campaign advisers flipped it around to make the word positive again.

“It’s no good just to sell fear,” Gray said.

Holden’s campaign responded to Walker’s ads with a billboard urging voters to “get Kipnotized,” in a similar fashion to the birthday banner.

“We made shirts and stickers and had to have them reprinted,” Gray said.

Reilly Center Director Bob Mann compared this turning of a phrase to the 1964 Barry Goldwater and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential race.

Goldwater’s campaign invented the slogan, “In your heart, you know he’s right.”

Johnson’s campaign responded with, “In your guts, you know he’s nuts,” which appealed to the idea that Goldwater would be reckless with nuclear weapons, Mann said.

“In order to be successful, you have to figure out how to turn your opponent’s strength into his weakness,” Mann said.

He called this a prime example of smart politics.