Online Advertisement
Rock the Vote registered 565,000 new youth voters in election year 2000--165,000 of those voters registered online. Overall, the campaign reached more than 12 million viewers, and overall youth voter turnout increased by 6 percent from the last election - this despite predictions of lower youth turnout.
Collaborate Communications was adorned with the task and challenge for a Rock the Vote campaign in the 2000 elections, using online media. They were to quickly and inexpensively create a campaign that motivated potential youth voters 18-25 to register to vote, and then drive them to the polls. The overall objective was to eventually register at least 250,000 new youth voters in election year 2000.
Collaborate created a campaign that confronted young people with powerful iconic images of issues juxtaposed with Yes/No ballot boxes. In addition, a supporting integrated campaign focused on politicians' stereotypical view of this youth target.
These online campaigns utilized a popular media format called flash. It's a method of online production that combines the assets of both print and broadcast media, also allowing for a substantial amount of room of interactivity for the user. A person can combine text, images and sound to create a moving presentation. The internet has more recently become the most recent, effect tool of advertisers.
As the relatively newly found media becomes more popular and a part of our regular lives, advertisers are beginning to see and utilize the benefits of online communication. With everything from email campaigns, to website design, the Internet is a tool that is being used by everyone including political campaigns.
The advertisement I choose lasts 13.5 seconds, employing progressive shots of four people, each being labeled with a politicians stereotypical view of a particular youth (apathetic, indifferent, lazy, ignorant). The ad finishes the pictured description with a series of differently aligned text, pulling your eyes down that page as the ad continues.
The ad was produced in a simple yet effective three color scheme: white, red and black, the same colors used in creating a bulls-eye, and in fact, this is exactly how the ad is formatted. A white off center boarder frames the picture of a typical "youth" voter, who's presented on a red background with a high contrast black scale.
The color red itself often carries the connotation of danger, harm, evil, blood and sometimes authority. Red is an unusually powerful and vibrant color that is often used to make a statement or stand out from uniformity. It's a striking kind of color that, when placed in the right context, can inflict a large array of ideals and emotions. The colors use here is important.
While the images of the stereotyped youths do change from each frame, the bulls-eye frame remains constant through out the first half of the ad. This method allows the users eye to focus on the changing pictures, rather then being distracted by the entire environment being altered. If the environment, or frame, of the ad were also to move, it would take a new recognition pattern for the viewer, deterring the momentum and easy comprehension of the ad. The way it's done here, the viewer's eye is allowed to easily adapt as the images flip while directly conveying the point.
In addition to the red on white background, there is a transparent layer of starkly contrasted black artifacting over each frame in the first half of the ad. This gives off the impression that these are poor photocopies, like massively distributed wanted posters. They have been photocopied so many times that they disrupt the image and provide interference in terms of communication. The message here is that this is what the youth has been labeled and thought of as across the country, as if it were an almost institutionally and systematically created effort to do so. The government often uses wanted posters for criminals, so this add is playing upon that generally recognized idea as well.
The message conveyed by the ad in the first half would theoretically anger those who were called such things. This idea is playing upon the generally accepted idea that people don't like being judged - especially misjudged - insulted, or stereotyped.
The photos of the youths always appear before the text. The type face is a sans serif font, generally better used for large type faces - as are used in the advertisement here in all capitals. The type is outlined in red with a shallow shadow backdrop that allows the text to achieve a substantial amount of shocking contrast, no matter where the text is place in the frame. There is always an opposite color to clearly delineate the text over any color in the background or picture of the youth. This intelligent design makes each line easy to see.
The text position jumps from the middle of the page in the first stereotype to the top of the page back to the middle, then to the bottom in the last shot. This motions makes your eye move in an upside down 'V' for the first have of the ad, pulling you further into the advertisement by making your eye - even if it's fluid motion - examine the entirety all aspects of the environment in which the add was placed in this section.
The biggest emphasis of the stereotypes is placed on the term "LAZY." It appears in a lager type then the other adds, an is place on a largely black background, again appealing to the human notability of stark contrast. The idea of being lazy is often projected onto the whole of the youth population, and is often an ideal that insults, enrages and angers many when they're explicitly called lazy. "LAZY," appears as the third stereotype in the middle of the page almost as if it's the climax of the first act of a play; this is the first real point of emphasis in the add.
By the time "LAZY" appears on the screen, the viewer has already had enough time (five seconds) to adjust their eye to the environment of the ad, as well as recognize the generalized and cultural knowledge that the add is praying upon. The first two stereotypes act almost as if they're an introduction to the advertisement itself, whereas the third and fourth stereotypes drive the point home completing the upside-down eye movement, and ending the first half of the advertisement.
The entire first half of the ad was placed on a red background with a ragged white boarder, however, as soon as the second half if the advertisement kicks in: the background flips to black on white, the type face changes from white with a red boarder, to red with a white boarder, keeping the color scheme the same while emphasizing the color contrast and a difference in the message.
The lettering refers back to the ideals about red, but instead of showing the stereotyped youths as powerless victims being framed or labeled, here the red in the type face stands as a symbol to excite the person, proporting the ideal of rebellion and fighting back. The major way they can do this and have influence is in a process that the government actually created, voting - the persuasive element becomes high here.
The first message, "Politicians think they can have you all figured out," refers back to the pictures and labels that were tagged to them. The second message "Piss off a politician," refers to the action they're imploring the viewers to take, almost as if they're implying it's would be a symbol of rebellion and a rejection of political stereotypes and their misguided ideas if they were to take a stand and vote. The third message is "Vote," which appears at the end of the advertisement on the bottom of the page in a larger type face then the other two messages, emphasizing the point of the ad.
The third message, "Vote," again appears, just as the "LAZY" stereotype did, as the third shot in the second half of the advertisement, attempting to motivate the person to take action by acting as a climax to the second act of the ad. The resolution of the ad comes at the end with the words "register to vote" hovering above a rock the vote insignia.
Throughout the entirety of the ad, the viewers eyes move in a consistent, yet fluid, up and down motion, running the length of the frame several times. Once the first half of the ad ends, your eyes jump back to the type of the frame and begin to move downward until the last frame where your eyes jump upward again.
The sound of the ad plays a basic roll; it simply accompanies the points of each scene. In the first half, the sound of a swoosh (like being passed by fast car) accompanies the quick appearance of each stereotyped word. Once the ad breaks into the second half the ad, then hard rock music begins to playing, imploring a sense of excitement and possible revenge for the first half of the ad - this is where the viewer sees red.
Overall, the advertisements effectiveness comes of fairly well. The tactics they used to engage the viewer not only involved a matter of style, but also a systematic method of production and thought. The idea is executed well; the bulls-eye concept is often overused, but here it is used in a unique way that flipped the whole idea into something that's effective, instead of clichéd.
Working upon the ideals of anger and insult in the first half and then moving to a way in which the viewer can correct that same anger while also taking out their revenge. This is an argument that has a lot of appeal, often because they feel powerless - and without a voice - under the shadow of the government, even when they're being insulted, talked about and stereotyped.
It is because of ads like this that Rock the vote has been one of the most successful organizations in capturing the youth to vote and interest in America. They use all means possible to engage young voters with everything from massive national campaigns in print, broadcast and online media to grass roots organization with factions and street teams in different cities. They use email, instant messaging, direct mail, brochures, movie stars, music production, records and the like all to get young people to vote. With each election is seems that they are learning, more and more, how to obtain insight youth interest in politics and voting.