Youth, Politics and The Media

In searching for my "Interactive Headline of the Week" I was in full out election mode, attempting to get my proof of residence in order to vote in my new riding, trying to find time to watch three different debates in two different counties (two of which were on at the same time), and get rid of all the unwanted party documents in my house so when I saw the headline from Media in Canada titled MuchMusic and MTV Canada Get Political it caught my interest. Written by Jonathan Paul the article summarizes how MuchMusic and MTV Canada are trying to get the youth out to vote in the election that is coming up on October 14. The ads on MuchMusic actually challenge the youth to think about who they want making their decisions for them and are slightly more tame than the ones airing on MTV Canada. The more controversial ads encourage them to mark their territory by having their voice heard. 

I think that these ads show a big problem that a lot of advertisers and clients have which is consumer engagement. Sometime it takes a little "shock and aw" to grab someone's attention so agencies and clients have to be more open to using these techniques to get your message across. This is especially true if you are marking your product to youth who tend to be more disengaged and more difficult to reach. It is also important to know your target in order and speak directly to them. Show them their fears and in this case show how their inaction can truly affect them. Many people, particularly youth, don't vote because they don't truly understand how it will affect them or they don't see it as cool but I think these ads do that and hopefully we can see an increase in the youth vote from this.

I believe that after I graduate this problem will still be here. The difficulty it will be to engage the consumer and have your message reach them. From this article I did try to find all the ads that it was discussing and although I couldn't find the MTV ads, on MuchMusic I found their full election page and I think that this is something that I can take with me into the agency world. Advertisements are no longer entities unto themselves but are becoming experiences. When you make a commercial you have website, and newspapers and blogs all about it and it allows consumers to become more engaged and create a world for the consumer to learn more. In the future, bringing this idea to mobile and really trying all avenues to reach the consumer is how to truly engage people, especially youth.

If you are interested in viewing the website the MuchMusic has started for the election please click here. And i will attempt to provide a link to the one commercial I can find on the subject here. I apologize if this link does not work as I am not that tech savy. However, you can find the video on the website under video and it is call "Be Loud".

So as the Canadian election debate is winding down and as I get ready to see how the American one is progressing I leave you all with one of my favourite quotes from this evening from Mr. Jack Layton: "Where is your platform Mr. Harper? Are you hiding it under your sweater vest?"