http://iacknowledge.net/gops-new-ad-campaign-targeting-hipsters-is-really-embarrassing/
The Republican party knows that it can get the elderly to vote for them, but the young voters – so-called Millennials – aren’t interested. In the 2012 presidential election, Obama won young voters nearly two-to-one. The problem here is that the elderly have a tendency to die, whereas young voters have a bright voting future ahead of them and absolutely no signs that they plan to use it helping Republicans get to office. Consequently, the GOP is desperate to rebrand itself as attractive to young voters.
After the “shellacking” they got in 2012, Republican leaders vowed to take a step back and evaluate what their party can do to attract the kind of groups who didn’t vote for them (read: everybody but old, white men). They could have spent the time being self-reflective and truly sincere in their promise to change for the better. After all, they had just been given a pretty concrete hint that their policies – particularly in regards to social issues – were deeply misaligned with what people wanted.
Millennials as a group represent a unique challenge for political parties because they don’t like associating with either of the two big ones. In fact, half of all millennials say they consider themselves political independents. That might sound promising if you are a Republican strategist eager to sway their votes, but it’s a much bleaker picture when viewed in more detail. For one thing, they tend to lean Democrat, even if they don’t identify with the DNC.
According to Paul Taylor, Pew research’s executive vice president who co-authored a report looking at millennials political affiliations:
“They don’t choose to identify, but they have strong views and their views are views that most people conventionally associate with the Democratic Party,” Taylor said. “They believe in a big activist government on some of the social issues of the day — gay marriage, marijuana legalization, immigration. Their views are much more aligned with the Democratic Party.”
So a lesson Republicans could learn is that the social landscape of America is shifting and they are being left behind. Did they learn that lesson? Nope. Instead, they concluded that it wasn’t their policies that were scaring young people away, it was their lack of hipster spokespeople. If Apple can get everyone to buy an iPod by being “cool,” why couldn’t the Republicans make voting against gay marriage seem equally chic? After all, isn’t retro “in” right now?
So they found themselves a Republican hipster, or a person who didn’t mind playing a Republican hipster, and made themselves a few ads. Spoilers: They are really uncool.
The first one has “Scott,” a Republican In Glasses Only (RIGO) sitting in his car complaining about gas prices, because if you want to appear indignant about the price of oil make sure you are needlessly idling in your vehicle doing it.
The next one has Scott filling up the car at the same gas station while talking about jobs. Scott is lucky to have a job, he says, but his friends are unemployed because “Thanks Obama!”
It’s unclear who these ads are intended for. The young voters won’t like the message, nor are they particularly fond of being “represented.” Other groups may enjoy seeing themselves in the people feature in ads (“That could be me!”), but individuality and a lack of labels is kind of the hipster ethos. The second Scott tried to be cool, he wasn’t.
For the record, Scott Greenberg is a real person. He’s a PR manager for the Washington Ballet in D.C. The hipster demo isn’t the only group Republicans hope to target, the ads will be featured in 14 states during the 2014 campaigns featuring many of the voters Republicans struggle with (read again: anyone but old, white men). You can find all the videos here.
The Republican party knows that it can get the elderly to vote for them, but the young voters – so-called Millennials – aren’t interested. In the 2012 presidential election, Obama won young voters nearly two-to-one. The problem here is that the elderly have a tendency to die, whereas young voters have a bright voting future ahead of them and absolutely no signs that they plan to use it helping Republicans get to office. Consequently, the GOP is desperate to rebrand itself as attractive to young voters.
After the “shellacking” they got in 2012, Republican leaders vowed to take a step back and evaluate what their party can do to attract the kind of groups who didn’t vote for them (read: everybody but old, white men). They could have spent the time being self-reflective and truly sincere in their promise to change for the better. After all, they had just been given a pretty concrete hint that their policies – particularly in regards to social issues – were deeply misaligned with what people wanted.
Millennials as a group represent a unique challenge for political parties because they don’t like associating with either of the two big ones. In fact, half of all millennials say they consider themselves political independents. That might sound promising if you are a Republican strategist eager to sway their votes, but it’s a much bleaker picture when viewed in more detail. For one thing, they tend to lean Democrat, even if they don’t identify with the DNC.
According to Paul Taylor, Pew research’s executive vice president who co-authored a report looking at millennials political affiliations:
“They don’t choose to identify, but they have strong views and their views are views that most people conventionally associate with the Democratic Party,” Taylor said. “They believe in a big activist government on some of the social issues of the day — gay marriage, marijuana legalization, immigration. Their views are much more aligned with the Democratic Party.”
So a lesson Republicans could learn is that the social landscape of America is shifting and they are being left behind. Did they learn that lesson? Nope. Instead, they concluded that it wasn’t their policies that were scaring young people away, it was their lack of hipster spokespeople. If Apple can get everyone to buy an iPod by being “cool,” why couldn’t the Republicans make voting against gay marriage seem equally chic? After all, isn’t retro “in” right now?
So they found themselves a Republican hipster, or a person who didn’t mind playing a Republican hipster, and made themselves a few ads. Spoilers: They are really uncool.
The first one has “Scott,” a Republican In Glasses Only (RIGO) sitting in his car complaining about gas prices, because if you want to appear indignant about the price of oil make sure you are needlessly idling in your vehicle doing it.
The next one has Scott filling up the car at the same gas station while talking about jobs. Scott is lucky to have a job, he says, but his friends are unemployed because “Thanks Obama!”
It’s unclear who these ads are intended for. The young voters won’t like the message, nor are they particularly fond of being “represented.” Other groups may enjoy seeing themselves in the people feature in ads (“That could be me!”), but individuality and a lack of labels is kind of the hipster ethos. The second Scott tried to be cool, he wasn’t.
For the record, Scott Greenberg is a real person. He’s a PR manager for the Washington Ballet in D.C. The hipster demo isn’t the only group Republicans hope to target, the ads will be featured in 14 states during the 2014 campaigns featuring many of the voters Republicans struggle with (read again: anyone but old, white men). You can find all the videos here.
