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YouTube: This Year's Buzz Spot for Political Ads?
Is You Tube this year's buzz spot for political ads? Last night, during game 1 of the St. Louis Cardinals/Detroit Tigers World Series, the Claire McCaskill Senate campaign in Missouri aired a new ad featuring Michael J. Fox praising McCaskill for her support of stem cell research. On St. Louis TV. 2 weeks before the elections. Labels: Jointblog
That got plenty of attention today in St. Louis and talk on morning radio -- not only because of the message in the conservative Republican state (literally, a Cardinal red state) but also because of watching Fox shake back and forth due to his condition with Parkinson's Disease.
But there's another important media story here.
The spot was also posted on YouTube by the McClaskill4Missouri campaign Friday evening. In just a couple of days, it has already been viewed more than 350,000 times (as of this morning) and received over 1300 comments. And got prime headlines on the Drudge Report.
That's grass roots...and the 2006 cost-effective way to get the political message out to the people.
Update 10/24 @ 8pm: Just checked the last view count just from the YouTube posting...1.05 million views and growing, with over 2600 comments. In just a few days. Not to mention all the other blogs and news sites that have embedded the spot for additional views.
Of course, Rush Limbaugh has joined the fray, saying Michael J. Fox is "exaggerating the effects of the disease" where, as the Washington Post headlines it, "Limbaugh accuses Fox of acting in ad."
Does he mean to suggest there isn't supposed to be "acting" for political ads? Has he actually spent time with someone debilitated by Parkinson's? If so, he may not remember it if he were zonked out on his pills.
Click the start button above to view the video or click here to view it on YouTube.
Click here for more on the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
posted by Unknown @ Monday, October 23, 2006,
