Campaigns Are Out Of Control…

If you needed more proof that this presidental campaign will be different from those of the past, look at this…

This is an ad that was produced by some unknown individual in support of Barack Obama, directly targeting Hillary Clinton. It is a mashup of Apple’s famous ’1984′ ad that launched the Macintosh. I’m sure this isn’t an ad that the Obama campaign would have made on it’s own, or probably even wants to have running.

But what they want doesn’t really matter in this case…

For good or ill, none of the campaigns are in complete control of their message anymore. Anyone with basic production talents can produce and distribute politically motivated messages without any support – or even agreement – from whatever campaign they feel aligned with. And the traditional print and broadcast media are no longer the gatekeepers of reach for these folks.

Reach is free – it’s now all about attention…

There are some real implications here. Having big dollars to spend can certainly help, but it doesn’t give you complete control of your message, nor necessarily connect you with the people you may want to reach with it. It simply throws what you want to say out into the market, where it quickly becomes diffuse and gets swallowed up into a big pool of noise. More importantly, it also means that even those individuals and organizations without big dollar budgets can still have a meaningful voice in the media message of any campaign or election. And this ‘secondary market’ of political activism can now survive very well without the support of mainstream political party machines. They can tap into focused demographics that are highly motivated by specific issues, and end up getting real buzz and traction.

Access to attention is now up for grabs…

An unfortunate consequence of this will probably be a rise in attack ads. This technology opens the door to smear ads and baseless acusations that could make the ‘Swiftboat’ ads of the last presidential election seem tame. No doubt candidates will be called upon to rein-in those supporters that ‘cross the line’, but without being able to leverage financial control, they will pretty much be powerless to do anything.

While truth is in short supply in any campaign, I worry that this one might be a record breaker. Passion and politics go hand in glove. Those individuals that think their candidates aren’t being forceful enough on a given issue, or striking back hard enough at a perceived attack by the oposition, can take matters into their own hands. And in that situation, ‘truthiness’ could easily win out over truth as the substance of our national discourse.

I’m sure this ‘outside political ad’ will be just the first of many to gain visibility. My hope is that future ones focus more on keeping the candidates honest, and keeping the most important issues on the agenda. The last thing our political process needs is more negativity.

It will be interesting to see how this develops…