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Dutch shopping site
Apr. 25th, 2008 09:14 amClick on one of the products and make sure your audio is enabled:
http://producten.hema.nl/
http://producten.hema.nl/
Apr. 25th, 2008
Video projector to borrow in Philly?
Apr. 25th, 2008 01:02 pmI'm doing a presentation in Philly on 5/3 (Saturday) at Temple. Sadly, I need to supply my own video projector for my laptop (or pay $70 for Temple to supply one).
Does anyone have one that I can borrow? I assure you it will be well-taken care of.
Does anyone have one that I can borrow? I assure you it will be well-taken care of.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/04/hillarys-gay-problem.html
My friend Phil Attey asks why Obama keeps mentioning gays and lesbians in his speeches - speeches he makes to the public at large, not just gay audiences - and Hillary never does. Phil writes:Last month, a gay Philadelphian LGBT publisher raised the issue that Senator Obama, though often addressing LGBT issues and including us in his major speeches, was not granting his publication an exclusive interview. Senator Obama quickly addressed the issue and granted an exclusive interview to the national LGBT publication, The Advocate.Phil is right. And he’s not the only one to notice:
Tonight, following the Pennsylvania Primary, Senator Obama once again showed his commitment to our community by including us in his address to the nation. Senator Clinton, speech, once again, did not include us, and it brings up the issue that hers never do.But Obama speaks movingly of gay equality, and not just before gay audiences. He has raised the issue among white farmers and in black churches, where the message is both unwelcome and needed.
Clinton, by contrast, rarely raises the issue on her own, never does so before unfriendly audiences, and seems reluctant even to say the word “gay.”
Obama “gets it” in a way that no previous candidate for president has. Part of this is generational, but it is nonetheless real.
Framing the campaign
Apr. 25th, 2008 04:11 pmMoveOn is having a contest to make a pro-Obama TV commercial (“Obama in 30 Seconds”). The more videos I vote on, the more critical I get of the bad ones.
A lot of the videos are saying, “we love him!” which, I think, is a turn-off. You don’t convince someone to change their mind saying, “you should love him because we do”. You get people to change their mind because they see how something will help them, and that makes THEM think that the person is great.
I’ve also notice a lot of videos emphasize the phrase “work together”. In the world of framing, the words that you pick aren’t important because a dictionary says they are important, but because the audience’s brain thinks they are important. So, saying “Don’t think of an Elephant” makes everyone instantly think of an elephant. The “don’t” gets lost. The phrase “work together” makes me think of... work. Ugh. I hate work. I’m not saying that a good slogan would be, “Everything will be easy and done for us”. However, from a framing perspective, “work together” makes brains think “work”. That’s negative.
Many of the videos talk about nothing but “change”. 30 seconds emphasizing how Obama will change the country, change the world, change your live. I vote negatively on these. Change is scary. I don’t want “change”. The typical person doesn’t want “change”. However, the typical person, when asked if they would like a particular pain in their live alleviated they would agree to have that happen. If you then ask them, “but that’s a change!” they’d say, “Sure! But ‘change’ can be good or bad, and when the government does it the result is usually bad. But you didn’t say ‘change’ you said you’d {improve this, fix that, etc.}. That’s something I want!”
When Bill Clinton got elected he kept talking about “jobs, jobs, jobs”. He didn’t say, “I’m going to change you job. I’m going to change the economy so that you have more jobs”. He just talked about the word that people like, “jobs”. And not “work”, by the way.... your brain likes to hear that there will be a job in your future, but not “work”. Ugh... nobody likes “work”. “Working Mothers”, “working families” oh those are terrible phrases. “Creating jobs” is so much more friendly to the brain.
Similarly, negative images are strong, visual images are strong, a negative visual image is very strong. Don’t show a before and after picture because people will remember the “before”. Don’t show a single freakin’ sad face.
I vote down any video that would have been great 2 months ago, but is stupid after the primary is over. Duh. Alas, 10% of the submissions seem to be in this category.
Videos should “say it visually”. ...oh, and text captions doesn’t count as “say it visually”. Don’t say “a healthy environment” or put that text on the screen without showing children playing happily in a beautiful green park.
Lastly, defining yourself defines the opponent. McCain’s slogan “The American President Americans have been waiting for” is fucking perfect. By defining McCain as an American, it reminds you that Obama isn’t. (though, McCain was actually born in Panama, and Obama was born in Hawaii AFTER it became a state). I vote against any video that doesn’t recognize this and backfire by not simultaneously defining Obama AND negatively defining McCain.
In short:
My favorite video so far? The one that pretends it is 2012 and this is a re-elect Obama advertisement showing the many ways that our life is better now. Each is shown visually, in text, and with a voiceover. Parents smiling and happy as they hug their son coming home from war, people happy to be working at high-paying jobs, children happy in a lush green park, etc. etc. The only problem with this commercial is that it is a bit presumptuous (which means it screams “ego”) to some people. Maybe tone it down a bit or see what test audiences say.
A lot of the videos are saying, “we love him!” which, I think, is a turn-off. You don’t convince someone to change their mind saying, “you should love him because we do”. You get people to change their mind because they see how something will help them, and that makes THEM think that the person is great.
I’ve also notice a lot of videos emphasize the phrase “work together”. In the world of framing, the words that you pick aren’t important because a dictionary says they are important, but because the audience’s brain thinks they are important. So, saying “Don’t think of an Elephant” makes everyone instantly think of an elephant. The “don’t” gets lost. The phrase “work together” makes me think of... work. Ugh. I hate work. I’m not saying that a good slogan would be, “Everything will be easy and done for us”. However, from a framing perspective, “work together” makes brains think “work”. That’s negative.
Many of the videos talk about nothing but “change”. 30 seconds emphasizing how Obama will change the country, change the world, change your live. I vote negatively on these. Change is scary. I don’t want “change”. The typical person doesn’t want “change”. However, the typical person, when asked if they would like a particular pain in their live alleviated they would agree to have that happen. If you then ask them, “but that’s a change!” they’d say, “Sure! But ‘change’ can be good or bad, and when the government does it the result is usually bad. But you didn’t say ‘change’ you said you’d {improve this, fix that, etc.}. That’s something I want!”
When Bill Clinton got elected he kept talking about “jobs, jobs, jobs”. He didn’t say, “I’m going to change you job. I’m going to change the economy so that you have more jobs”. He just talked about the word that people like, “jobs”. And not “work”, by the way.... your brain likes to hear that there will be a job in your future, but not “work”. Ugh... nobody likes “work”. “Working Mothers”, “working families” oh those are terrible phrases. “Creating jobs” is so much more friendly to the brain.
Similarly, negative images are strong, visual images are strong, a negative visual image is very strong. Don’t show a before and after picture because people will remember the “before”. Don’t show a single freakin’ sad face.
I vote down any video that would have been great 2 months ago, but is stupid after the primary is over. Duh. Alas, 10% of the submissions seem to be in this category.
Videos should “say it visually”. ...oh, and text captions doesn’t count as “say it visually”. Don’t say “a healthy environment” or put that text on the screen without showing children playing happily in a beautiful green park.
Lastly, defining yourself defines the opponent. McCain’s slogan “The American President Americans have been waiting for” is fucking perfect. By defining McCain as an American, it reminds you that Obama isn’t. (though, McCain was actually born in Panama, and Obama was born in Hawaii AFTER it became a state). I vote against any video that doesn’t recognize this and backfire by not simultaneously defining Obama AND negatively defining McCain.
In short:
- Explain how an Obama presidency will personally benefit the person watching the video
- Remind people of how things will be different not by saying “there will be change” but by saying what the end-results of the change will be
- Don’t talk about policy... that’s boring
- Don’t brag that you love Obama. You sound like a cultist.
My favorite video so far? The one that pretends it is 2012 and this is a re-elect Obama advertisement showing the many ways that our life is better now. Each is shown visually, in text, and with a voiceover. Parents smiling and happy as they hug their son coming home from war, people happy to be working at high-paying jobs, children happy in a lush green park, etc. etc. The only problem with this commercial is that it is a bit presumptuous (which means it screams “ego”) to some people. Maybe tone it down a bit or see what test audiences say.