The Branding of Obama
Presidential candidates– just like ad agencies– are selling a product. Whether it’s soap, tuna fish or Barack Obama, each is a product being marketed to you.
“It’s a campaign so they are trying to build their brand, shape their brand and have their brand appeal to certain constituencies,” says Ann Mack of advertising giant J Walter Thompson whose entire job is spotting trends. In Obama’s case the constituency he’s going after is the youth vote. In speech after speech he’ll highlight the importance of young voters and he’ll ask for their support.
Go to any college campus and for the most part young voters will tell you they’re backing Obama. Yea, they like his message of “change” but dig a little deeper and they’ll admit that the big reason they like Obama is that he just seems cool.
Pittsburgh political blogger Matt Hogue, an Obama supporter, says “Obama is a Brand. He has pizzazz, style, flair.” http://matth614.blogspot.com/
While covering the youth vote in Ohio I met Daniel O’Connor, an Obama supporter and junior at Wright State University. He described Obama as a trend, “Young people are always looking for something new, something to grab on to something that is exciting.”
In Philadelphia I met Obama backer Emily Green at Haverford College. She says, “He just seems like a really great guy.”
Alright, you get the point-they like him. Some call it a craze or even “Obama-mania.” It’s in part fueled by hip products: revolutionary-style posters that paint him at this generation’s Che Guevara (I guess communism is the hot thing among some young voters) t-shirts that read “Barack Obama is my Homeboy” http://www.zazzle.com/ismyhomeboy/product/235842659506165959, and music like the song and video by Black Eyed Peas member Will i. am. The A lister produced and starred in a video called “Yes We Can,” which features clips from Obama’s speeches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY
Obama frequently places young voters behind him during speeches and he shows them in campaign ads. I asked Obama supporter Jessica Schwartz about this. She said, “We like to see ourselves.” Good idea-play to their egos and their fascination with being in front of a camera! To be fair, McCain and Hillary also position young people behind them but because so many young voters are crazy 4 barack it seems more authentic when they serve as Obama’s backdrop.
Did it ever occur to you that Obama talks like a young person? Hillary downed a shot of whisky but you’d likely never hear her use the word “bonehead” as Obama did when he talked about his involvement with indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko. It was a “boneheaded move” he explained. John McCain probably never uses the word “mangled,” as Obama did during an interview that he had with the Philadelphia Inquirer about his “bitter” comments. “The problem was that I just mangled it, which happens sometimes,” Obama told the board. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080415.htm
And back to that young person ego thing-Obama looks like a young person, yes, I mean his age but also his appearance. He often seen wearing a suit without a tie-it’s that GQ style commonly seen on stylish men. By comparison, I seem to recall seeing John McCain in a red sweater vest! Giuliani wore one in a Christmas commercial-remember that?! http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/the-hallmark-campaign/ frightening!
Obama would never make that mistake!
Ann Mack (the trend guru) says the fact that Obama is bi-racial helps with young voters. She says he looks like this generation, “The millennial generation is the most ethnically and racially diverse population we’ve ever had in U.S. history the fact that he is a bi-racial candidate and he’s younger than the other candidates really appeals to the youth vote.”
If Obama finds himself dancing at an inaugural ball in January, he’ll likely have young voters to thank. Future campaigns will no doubt notice and begin using Obama’s style of “branding” to appeal to young voters.
Obama banking on college voters in NC
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1736690,00.html
Obama taps in to the “creative class”
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582081/20080221/id_0.jhtml
AP
If the young people would vote for obama because he is cool and not for substance, that shows why us adults do not let young people run the system called Capitalism we would loose control of our country!!!!!
Obama is a brand. That’s the absolute truth. Ultimately, he is a liberal with no revelant experience on the national stage but he has packaged himself as America’s only hope to save us from ourselves. That probably does go over well with experience-deficient college students who are being fed leftist opinions by their professors.
Barack’s policy positions are weak, he has been running around with some shady people and hasn’t done anything of any consequence in his political career. He really is a weak and deeply flawed candidate but his branding has been spectacular so we are forced to face the reality that the most liberal politician in any US presidential election has a real shot at winning. That’s pretty scary but it is also a sad commentary on how easily it is to package something as something it’s not and sell it to the masses.
Hillary and McCain might not use the words bonehead or mangled but Hillary does worse. In her speech in Indiana Sunday night she said if you listen closely you could hear the noise of moving in the White House- and it was going to be so great when the Bushes were out of the White House and back in Texas. Obama has more class than to include such juvenile statements in a campaign speech. Hillary is a redneck hillbilly. She wears pants but never a real pantsuit; and if she does, it’s a green suit like last night with a pink sweater and a yellow scarf. She definitely doesn’t know how to dress or talk.
Is that the best you’ve got Obama? Shame on you capitalizing on the niave…… I agree with Rich
This is a sad commentary on our country’s education system and the media which have brainwashed and dumbed down our youth to the point where they choose style over substance. If this mindset does not change, we are doomed when the older generation has died out.
The youth of this nation will be runnng the country long after I am dead and gone. I hope they get their candidate and that they are smart enough to change the way presidential elections are run in the future. If you are the parent of a young adult you know that the youth of this nation are far brighter than we are, in many respects. It is their time to have a candidate that puts them first.
As a student at a leftist university where everyone is pro-Obama, I don’t quite get “him.” Maybe it’s because I’m a non-traditional student who didn’t receive a watered-down version of U.S. history and Civics in high school. My social studies teachers throughout elementary school, junior high and high school taught that to be responsible voters, you vote for the candidate that has ability, not who someone who’s style is ‘easy.’
It almost pains me to see alot of these first time voters, voting for someone who has “convinced” them he’s the better person. The young voters aren’t aware that these candidates will say anything, do anything to get elected.
Truth of the matter is, none of the candidates are what the people wanted. It’s going to to come down to the lesser of two evils.
The problem is, just like the young voters who don’t really have a clue other than playing follow the leader, Obama is young and green. He has no leadership experience. No foreign relations experience. He has to rely on his advisors for everything. And we cannot have a candidate who thinks that diplomacy is the answer to all things evil.
Obama has likened himself to JFK. The problem with that, is that unlike JFK who’s biggest issue was communism and nuclear war, today’s issue is religious extremism. Political ideology issues have a far greater chance of an outcome than religious extremism. The last time I checked, communist hardliners didn’t strap bombs to themselves and walk into a crowded market to make a point.
Education about the past goes a long way. Sadly, today’s youth has relegated themselves to the Spark Note’s version of history. And that’s sad.
This is the media and this is university system in this country. Instead of actually researching the issues and finding their own voice, they listen to the voices of their professors and the talking-heads in the media. They listen to their friends, instead of figuring it out for themselves.
I grew up as a Republican, but now I’m an independent. And this has happened because I learned to educate myself by myself. I haven’t allowed Professor X, Classmate Y or news person Z to tell me who is the better candidate.
I voted for Hillary today because I feel she’s lesser evil. And she’s got something Obama doesn’t: experience. The presidency isn’t a job that provides on-the-job-training.