Since the beginning of political campaigns and elections in the United States, trends in civic engagement have always been an interesting subject to research. Throughout history civic engagement has waxed and waned depending on how big the election is, and the political issues that are present at the time. Most recently, civic engagement has erupted in the MTV generation, especially in the 2008 election. Modes of popular culture are used to target and attract the attention of young voters. The most influential pop culture media outlet in the 2008 election was by far MTV. This paper will look at how MTV was used by both parties to encourage voting in the 2008 election, how celebrities, who attract the attention of young voters, went on the campaign trail for the candidates they endorsed, and how, ultimately the Obama Campaign focused much of their attention on gaining the vote of the younger generation which eventually led to him winning the election.
According to APA Online, civic engagement is, “individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation”. Civic engagement is what political parties bank on in getting the vote for their candidate elected. In the 2008 election, the Democratic Party targeted audiences on the television network MTV in order to gain the vote of the viewers, who are mostly young people. As the MTV website admits, their channel primarily targets young adults and teenagers. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties were fully aware of this when they took on the 2008 campaign and were trying to get people to vote for their nominees, Barack Obama and John McCain. A campaign called Rock The Vote was put into place in order to encourage teens and young adults to engage their candidates, volunteer at political events, and learn more about the policies being presented by the candidates. According to Rock The Vote websites About Us section, “Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country” (rockthevote.com). The statement continues to say:
We are creative, effective, and controlled by nobody’s agenda but our own – we tell it like it is and pride ourselves on being a trusted source for information on politics. We empower the 45 million young people in America who want to step up, claim their voice in the political process, and change the way politics is done.
Rock The Vote used its power to effect young people in order to get out and support their candidates, register to vote, and get out the word to their fellow youngsters to vote for themselves and become participants in the campaign process.
Along with encouraging young people to vote through Rock The Vote, MTV and political parties issued the help of celebrities in order to get this generation to take part in politics in order to initiate change. It is a known fact that young people look up to their favorite celebrities as idols, and the fact that many celebrities went on the campaign trail for their candidate and spoke at events really helped in getting young people to vote. Many celebrities visited college campuses around the country to give speeches on why students needed to register to vote, and why they needed to be active in the political process. After all, it is our futures that are at stake here. At Colorado State University a few weeks before the 2008 election, celebrities Eva Longoria, Kal Penn, and Adam Rodriguez spoke to several hundred community members about the need to get out and vote, and to encourage friends and family members to vote. As Longoria stated in her speech, “college students and young adults will be responsible for the future created by today's political climate” (rockymountaincollegian.com). This was the focus of many of the trio’s stump speeches throughout the country in hopes of gaining more support for their particular candidate, Barack Obama.
Another example of celebrities joining the campaign for their candidates is when the Beastie Boys made a stump speech last minute on the Colorado State University Plaza on Election Day just hours before the polls closed. Because Colorado was a swing state in this election, the Beastie Boys rappers Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch said, “If you know anybody that is undecided, or their friends, or your auntie, or your Nana, please call them wherever they may be and get them out to vote,” Horovitz said. “This is a state where this does matter” (rockymountaincollegian.com). Clearly the influence of all of the celebrities that attended CSU, and many other colleges around the country, helped in getting younger people to vote. Because these celebrities took time out of their busy schedules in order to travel the country enticing their fans to vote, they truly made a difference in the separate campaigns that they had joined.
The 2008 election was the most anticipated in history. The country as a whole was ready for change in leadership and it would come in the form of either Democratic nominee Barack Obama, or Republican nominee John McCain. Each candidate and their campaigns had separate targets while on the campaign trail. Senator John McCain focused a lot of his effort on Veterans and Senior Citizens, and Senator Barack Obama focused much of his efforts on young people. Both candidates knew that they needed to put a lot of campaigning effort into states that were considered to be swing states, including Colorado.
By far, the most effective effort by either of the candidates was those of the Obama Campaign which used young voters as a focal point for their campaign. Barack Obama used the last few weeks leading up to the election to rally at college campuses around the country. In one day he rallied in Denver, Colorado, and immediately headed north for a rally at Colorado State University, which boasted about 50,000 students and community members. As people lined the sidewalks of campus, members of the Obama Campaign at CSU went through the lines and registered people to vote. There was a record turnout for this rally in which Obama focused on his agenda, and telling the crowd that if they wanted positive change in the white house then they needed to vote for him. In having rallies at college campuses, and insisting that the vote of the young person was what really counted in this election, Barack Obama insured his win for the White House.
By using popular culture in politics, political campaigns and candidates have a much stronger outlet to have their agenda known. Through the course of the 2008 election, both candidates, McCain and Obama, used MTV and Rock The Vote to get their messages out there. Each campaign used celebrity endorsements to help on the campaign trail in getting people to register to vote, and to actually go out and vote, and although each candidate had a different target audience for their campaigns, each nominee for President focused on that target audience in order to gain the vote. Barack Obama focused his efforts on the younger generation, which ultimately lead to him winning the Presidency.
Works Cited:
APA Online. (2009). Civic Engagement and Service Learning. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.apa.org/ed/slce/civicengagement.html.
Hart, Johnny. (2008). Stars speak at CSU, campaign for Obama. Rocky Mountain Collegian. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://media.www.collegian.com/media/storage/paper864/news/2008/10/03/News/Stars.Speak.At.Csu.Campaign.For.Obama-3469940.shtml
Myers, Eric. (2008). Beastie Boys stump last minute on the Plaza. Rocky Mountain Collegian. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://media.www.collegian.com/media/storage/paper864/news/2008/11/05/News/Beastie.Boys.Stump.Last.Minute.On.Plaza-3525626.shtml#4
Rock The Vote. (2009). About Us. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.rockthevote.com
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I completely agree that Obama was the clear winner in terms of making himself a part of popular culture. He was able to reach new demographics of voters through various media outlets and many pop stars that supported his campaign. The upside to this was obviously a political victory. The downside to this was that thousands of uniformed voters made their decision based on what a hologram of Will-I-Am had to say on CNN. By reaching the uninformed voters, Obama was able to get them motivated by making himself a part of what they were usually interested in, pop culture. Voting became cool with Obama's campaign, so people went with the flow and voted for Barack. This is not to say he wasn't the best candidate, because he was clearly smart enough to reach the voters. But, I do feel that uninformed voters are one of the biggest threats we have to our democracy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how did I miss the Beastie Boys? Did they play any songs? I guess I should have gone to class that day.
The author presents a very interesting, relevant, and developing trend in politics to focus on the younger generation and access these potential voters through popular culture outlets such as MTV and celebrity endorsements. Historically candidates have placed little attention on the issues surrounding the youngest potential voters, those in college or having just graduated. This is probably because voting rates amongst the youngest segment of voters was fairly low in past elections. Politics have not always been a priority of the younger generation. We did not know how to use our voices or why we even should. We did not previously believe we could actually make changes. Obama gave us hope that what we care about does matter, and we can unify and mobilize to make change. By using tools such as MTV and celebrity endorsements as well as identifying issues important to the younger generation of voters, Obama made himself accessible, relatable, believable, and most of all, cool. Let’s face it, today’s society is fiercely focused on image, money, fame, glitz, glam, instant celebrities, and reality TV. As such our role models have become athletes, musician, actors, and celebrities. By making himself a celebrity and focusing a lot of time and energy on the younger generation, Obama motivated us to become interested, engaged, and invested in the election. He was able to unite a population previously untapped. He used was able to use this effectively, and there is little doubt this helped him win the election. Obama’s focus on the younger generation and his proof that we can make a difference, has set a precedent that future politicians never again forget the power and force of the country’s youth vote.
ReplyDeleteKasim