They Aren't All Jib Jab

I love Jib Jab! Seriously, I love it so much that when the IPDI study, Under the Radar and Over the Top mentioned they had done a video on the 2000 campaign, I immediately rushed to their website to check it out.

For the most part, their videos offer slightly off-color, bipartisan mocking to catchy tunes and they are the first thing that comes to mind when anyone says, "viral marketing." I wouldn't really consider them "political communication" since they appear to only use the presidential campaigns as a hook to interest people. I think the main motive in their productions has been to make the Spiradellis brothers both rich and famous.

However, the other videos in the IPDI video library are clearly designed to influence the election. The ones I viewed range from funny to gruesome to cruel, but the one common factor I saw was that they all undermine true political discourse by making the attacks personal.

Each video I viewed implies or makes outright the point that the opposing candidate is an evil person and wants to do the country harm. Swift Boat Veterans (not linking for a reason) didn't attack Kerry's policies or ideas, they attacked his character. Bush Straight Talk (by America Coming Together) portrayed Bush, not his actions or plans as stupid.

While I enjoyed sending, forwarding and watching these videos during the campaign, it saddens me to see yet another indicator of the sad state of democracy in this country.

I believe Bush and Kerry both care deeply about this country and have differing viewpoints about what is in its best interests. However, that viewpoint isn't funny or mean, so it won't circulate around the Internet, even though that is what most Americans truly believe.