It was over twenty years ago when Madonna wrapped herself in an American flag in the first PSA (watch it here) for the Rock the Vote campaign. I’m not sure what I was doing in 1990, but I definitely don’t remember seeing that. I do recall, though, other celebrity and musician endorsements popping up on MTV while I licked nacho-cheese Dorito dust off my fingers. Hard to believe they have been at it for so long. If you can handle the optical assault (did the RTV web designer not get the memo that white type on a black background is not a good idea?), I recommend reading the Rock The Vote history timeline on the website. RTV made huge strides in youth electoral participation by introducing the register by telephone number option and later, online registration for young voters. Today, Rock the Vote is still rocking out, now partnered with data research organization Young Voter Strategies, and is actively road tripping to universities and colleges across the U.S., as well as launching initiatives like getting Virgin America to offer in-flight voter registration and teaming with XBOX to offer easy voter registration while gaming. Clearly, they are finding alternative ways to reach their audience by making voter registration a seamless integration with what teens are already doing.
Millennials are the fastest growing, most diverse generation in our nation’s history, accounting for nearly one quarter of the electorate nationwide, outnumbering seniors this November. By 2016 this group of young people is predicted to make up nearly 33% of all actual voters. —RTV website
Rock the Vote’s method for moving the masses is straightforward: We use music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing to motivate and mobilize young people in our country to participate in every election, with the goal of seizing the power of the youth vote to create political and social change. In the golden age of music videos, these campaigns were spot on. Are these methods still the most effective when it comes to engaging the most ADHD-riddled demographic of today?
A less popular national youth voting campaign (as of this writing, I VOTE has 262 followers on Twitter) is getting the word out via “viral videos/PSAs and interactive social media.” It’s called I VOTE, and you can view the video spot directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Jessica Sanders below.
It brings a lot of women’s issues to light but let’s admit, it’s a little creepy. According to their sponsor site, “I VOTE will establish this dialogue [among the younger generation] by tapping into an extensive nationwide network of A-List creatives to produce fresh, original content that resonates with younger voters. Filmmakers, actors, artists, photographers, and musicians will lend their talents to give voice to the issues facing us in 2012 and the youth will listen….and talk back.” I wonder if these additional endorsements will be in the same “scary issues” vein as the first video and what millennials will have to say about them.
Regionally, two MICA students have launched Don’t You Want To?, a youth voting campaign with the hopes of getting young people involved as citizens and participants in our democracy. “We hope to use design to go where grassroots organizing and volunteer based registration campaigns cannot,” they proclaim on their Facebook page. Not really sure how that works, but I like the sound of it! The orange and blue are fresh takes on the usual presidential color palette.
The video promises candidate cheat sheets, posters, buttons, online resources and t-shirts, the latter of which I found to be questionable in their messaging. Shirts have slogans such as “Let’s Get a Booth” and “Pull My Lever”, as well as, “Stuff My Box”, “Give Me An Election”, and “Take My Poll” (complete with silohuetted pole dancer). Say what?
I know, I sound like a grandma when I say times have changed. And they have. The web has made information on candidates and election-sensitive topics (biased or not) readily available to those who seek it. And youth-centric issues are hot buttons on the election agenda this year—student debt woes, unemployment and health insurance, even same-sex marriage debates. Once shielded viewpoints now fly freely across the transparent twittersphere. To stand out and engage millennials in this realm, register to vote campaigns do have to kick it up a notch. But that doesn’t mean we should cheapen the message and resort to low-brow, off-color humor. The right to vote is a gift and should be taken seriously. I have to agree with @janekleeb:
Cross the Party Line, cute http://dontuwant2.onlineshirtstores.com/ The rest of the shirts are ridiculous. Stuff my box?! Young voters better than this.
