So long Daisy and Demon Sheep; hello mobile phones and faux-reports!
The Washington Post reports on Robert Ehrlich Jr.’s recent advertising campaign to take back the governor’s seat this year. Instead of a generic spot airing on the cable networks, the former Maryland governor provides on-location briefings via YouTube “covered” by Andy Barth, a former TV reporter and now acting as his press secretary.
On the other side of digital punditry, mobile phone apps are becoming key for upcoming campaigns according to the AP. While some campaigns use their app as a means of instant access to talking points, like Doug MacGinnitie; others, like Ari David, get rejected by Apple’s standards board for reasons left solely up to the company. Examples can range from initially being slanderous–as was the political cartoon application from cartoonist Mark Fiore according to the Nielsen Journalism Lab–or for being pornographic.
While Fiore’s app, NewsToons, received approval after a resubmission, David’s didn’t. But picking up newspapermen to brainstorm campaigns isn’t anything that new; after all, David Axelrod went from the Chicago Tribune into political consulting before acting as senior adviser to the President.
The shift to a digital mind-set to use social media rather than TV tropes makes us wonder what’ll be the next gaffe akin to Nixon not shaving before his debate. Unfortunately, Ehrlich Jr. may have done it–they forgot to list the video (i.e. make searchable) on YouTube.
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