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anti-obamacare ads and the earworm theory
I used to write a lot about something I think of as political ear worms back in the day. Here's an excerpt from one in 2006 called "Using our Religion" :
It's galling, of course, to have them project their own transgressions onto others. But it's very effective. Still, I've rarely seen them do it so blatantly as they're doing it in these ads trying to get young people to "opt out" of buying health insurance.
That's right. The people who brought you government mandated vaginal probes, which reproductive rights advocates used successfully to frame the controversy, are using that same imagery to persuade young people not to buy health insurance.
And just so the boys get the message too, they made do with one with their own obsessions.(When they aren't going on about things being "shoved down their throats" the forced anal probe is one of their favorites):
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/earworms-and-probes-in-nether-regions.html
The Republicans have figured out something that the Democrats refuse to understand. All political messages can be useful, no matter which side has created it. You use them all situationally. The Republicans have been adopting our slogans and memes for years. They get that the way people often hear this stuff is not necessarily in a partisan sense. They just hear it, as a sort of disembodied phrase. Over time they become comfortable with it and it can be exploited for many different reasons.
In this instance, there has been a steady underground rumbling about stolen elections since 2000. Now, we know that it's the Republicans who have been doing the stealing ---- and the complaining has been coming from our side. But all most people hear is "stolen election" and many are just as likely to paste that charge onto us as they are onto them. It's like an ear worm. You don't know the song its from, necessarily, but you can't get it out of your head.
We have created an ear worm that the Republicans are appropriating --- and they will probably use it much more aggressively and effectively than our side did. They are already gearing up for it. As I mentioned a month or so ago, Karl Rove was at the Republican Lawyers Association talking about how the Democrats are stealing elections
It's galling, of course, to have them project their own transgressions onto others. But it's very effective. Still, I've rarely seen them do it so blatantly as they're doing it in these ads trying to get young people to "opt out" of buying health insurance.
That's right. The people who brought you government mandated vaginal probes, which reproductive rights advocates used successfully to frame the controversy, are using that same imagery to persuade young people not to buy health insurance.
And just so the boys get the message too, they made do with one with their own obsessions.(When they aren't going on about things being "shoved down their throats" the forced anal probe is one of their favorites):
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/earworms-and-probes-in-nether-regions.html