Part A: Undertake an analysis of two differing products, perhaps from two different campaigns
I chose to write about celebrity involvement, this is my contribution to the report.
This year’s presidential election saw a huge amount of celebrity involvement with celebrities being open about who their candidate of choice was or just trying to emphasise the importance of voting and urging the country to exercise their legal right to vote. From a media producer’s perspective the use of celebrity and social media, which is the main platform of choice celebrities used to voice their opinions, was a huge appeal to the younger generation of voters. Producers know that the world is ever changing and that there has been a huge increase in the amount of adults using social media; in the 8 years since the last main election there has been an increase of over 40% of American adults using at least one method of social media [1] and that now over 65% of American adults use social media. With this knowledge producers knew they had to target the younger audience of millennials by using what they had become accustomed to and came as second nature to them - social media; but it wasn’t just what they would be seeing on social media that was important, it was who.
A celebrity, as defined in the Oxford dictionary, is a famous person especially in entertainment or sport; they have a lot of attraction and interest on social media having thousands or millions of followers. The world has changed so much that people look up to celebrities and will respect and trust their opinions more than those of state and governmental officials however there is a potential risk of misuse and abuse of celebrity endorsement that could manipulate first time voters. The interaction with first time voters is important as it is believed that the first party they vote for will be the party they will vote for for the rest of their lives. Media producers, especially those for Clinton’s campaign, chose to use celebrity involvement to influence the first time voters as they have grown up with social media and the significance and power celebrities have on it.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign to become the first female president began in 2015 however it wasn’t until 2016 where her celebrity ‘friends’ started campaigning with her. One of the first major celebrity involvements was a video created by the Clinton campaign starring Shondaland stars and creator Shonda Rhimes, whose TV shows dominate Thursday night viewing on abc, this triggered other celebrities to become more openly supportive and use their power on social media to promote their belief in Hillary. It was at Democratic National Conference in July 2016, where Hillary was announced as the Democratic party presidential candidate, and thereafter where the celebrity power took over; celebrities such as Katy Perry, Sigourney Weaver, Elizabeth Banks, Meryl Streep, Demi Lovato, Lena Dunham, Eva Longoria, Sarah Silverman and others all spoke in support of Clinton at the DNC, bringing lots more attention and allowing fans of the celebrities to hear why they support Hillary and be persuaded to support and vote for her too. An a capella cover of Fight Song featuring musicians, actors and supporters of Clinton was played at the DNC as another appeal to the younger audience with the video being inspired by the popular Pitch Perfect films. As Clinton continued her campaign trail celebs joined her with singers such as Demi Lovato and Katy Perry singing and introducing her at rallies, this brought lots of attention to Clinton’s rallies and became an incentive for people to go to her rallies - people will receive a music concert as well as hearing and understanding Clinton's beliefs and policies. Twitter was the main platform celebs used to voice their opinion as it holds a greater power of reaching more people through retweets, tweets are more likely to bring more attention through the ability to interact with fans and haters, celebs will respond and voice their opinions causing controversy and attention. Numerous fundraisers held and supported by celebrities in support of Hillary took place throughout the campaign with celebs such as Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Leonardo Dicaprio all posted photos to Twitter and Instagram to show their support and involvement to their followers. As the election got closer more and more celebs became vocal about their support and involvement with cast members from Shondaland and other actors calling up voters and going door-to-door to persuade voters, especially in the swing states. The day before the election Madonna hosted her on rally where she performed a concert to fans and urged them to "Join me with the first president to welcome in our first female president," she posted a photo with that caption on Instagram before the concert. Instagram saw a high number of supporters posting voters in Clinton Campaign clothing and sharing how supporters can get their own.
Although celebrity involvement may seem like an appropriate campaigning tactic as it appeals to the younger audience age and socioeconomics of the lower class, it suggests that Hillary is dependant on the added attention celebrities bring and she doesn’t have a big enough appeal. It is believed that the celebrity involvement was an attempt to draw attention away from the email scandal.
Donald Trump’s campaign was very different to Clinton’s; with less scheduled celebrity involvements and more using his ‘celebrity’ status and social media presence to bring awareness and attention to himself and his campaign. The celebrities that openly admitted to supporting Trump were athletes such as Dennis Rodman, Hulk Hogan, Mike Tyson all endorsing Trump and tweeting their support to try and appeal to their fans that Trump was what the country needs. Trump criticized Clinton’s tactics and mocked her showbiz supporters which only caused more negative attention. When looking at the type of celebrities who support Trump versus those who support Clinton, those who support Trump are similar type of people and quite controversial and have a strong opinion on what their country should be like as opposed to those celebrities who supported Clinton who are more mainstream celebs who are more positive role models to young people. Also, musicians restricted Trump from using their music at rallies for fear of becoming affiliated with supporting him and losing respect and trust from fans as well as possibly subjecting themselves to hate and negative responses.
The celebrity involvement in the candidate campaigns were very biased towards that candidate and acted as propaganda however other campaigns were dedicated to getting people to vote. Organisations such as Save the Day, Rock the Vote and Vote your Future all included celebrities in their promotional videos to emphasise to voters the importance and significance of their vote. In some videos celebrities explain why they are voting and the importance of voting for the right person however, some videos have subliminal message of which candidate to vote for whilst still trying to remain neutral. The organisation made a lot of information available about how and where to vote so that first voters have a clear understanding on what they need to do.
Overall the celebrity involvement brought lots of attention to the US election, with the majority being in support of Clinton, the question as to whether more celebs were openly democrat rather than republican being because they don’t believe in the figure head of Donald Trump and don’t want to be associated with him and his controversial comments. The celebrities used their power on social media to try and influence voters to vote for Hillary however until the election and the results the amount of power the celebrity involvement and the influence and persuasion is unknown.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment