Political Ads Directed at Younger Voters

Political campaigns are talking to you.

Cable channels MTV and Comedy Central are beginning to air political ads. One of the first will promote Senator Barack Obama. The ad was paid for by moveon.org. You never hear Barack Obama’s name. But it does repeat a slogan that is familiar to anyone following this year’s election, “Hope”.

The ad is titled “It Could Happen to You”; it is a takeoff of anti drug commercials geared towards teens. Instead of moving its target audience away from a habit, the ad suggests that Obama’s message of “hope” is a good habit.

Through out the ad you hear familiar lines like, “Hope: It could happen to you” and “This is your brain…this is your brain on hope.” The second line is accompanied by video showing an egg as your brain and then a hatched chick as your brain on “hope.”

MTV has had its political campaign “Choose or Lose” since 1992. This is the first time that the music channel is airing political ads. This is part of the trend of an increasing engagement of younger people in political campaigns.

See the ad at http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/28/it-could-happen-to-you-political-ad-hitting-airways/