Viral Video and the Political Scene

The viral video factor has been unleashed upon the presidential primaries with the release of a 1984 ad featuring Hillary Clinton. The ad is a play on the Apple commercial, where dazed and drone-like individuals watch a screen with Clinton's image while a female athlete runs to destroy the screen with a sledgehammer.

Needless to say, this video became an instant hit and source of buzz. An article on AOL News, written today, says that the short video was watched by one million people after being posted on YouTube. On the bottom of the linked video you can see the number of times it has been viewed, which at this point is over two million. What was particularly buzz worthy about the video was that the creator was a mystery for a short period. Fingers were pointed at Obama, who did not claim responsibility but at the same time did not refute the message of the ad.

Finally, the Huffington Post somehow identified the creator as Phillip de Vellis, a relatively young professional working for a company that does consulting and creates campaigns for liberally oriented groups and Democratic candidates. A New York Times article explains that the company, Blue State Digital, was helping to create Obama's website and assist with utilizing new media his campaign. Blue Digital was not affiliated with the creation of the video, however, and de Vellis was allegedly fired after admitting to its creation and to acting completely on his own.

How has this video set the tone for the rest of the campaign?
Another AOL news article asks some similarly themed questions such as:
"How will Web content outside the control of campaigns affect voters?"
"How should campaigns react to anonymous but highly viewed attacks?"
"When is Web content, no matter how provocative, newsworthy?"

I predict this will be a very different election. With politicians already scrambling for help capitalizing on new media and creating Myspace accounts, a whole new level of public involvement will be reached and a new era of campaign tactics will be ushered in. Politicians' visibility will be elevated to the extreme by current media. The change is almost comparable to when Nixon and Kennedy had the first televised Presidential debate. The way people voted changed then, and perhaps citizens will vote differently now.

It is possible that this guerrilla-style video has given us just a taste of what is to come.