Ad wars: the internet election
Updated on 16 October 2008
Just as Vietnam was the first television war, so this year's presidential contest will be seen as the first internet election, writes James von Leyden.
Of course, the internet has been used in electoral contests before. It was exploited in 2004, notably by the Democrat contender Howard Dean and the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In 2007 Estonia allowed its citizens to cast their vote in a national election online.
But it is only in the current race for the White House that the internet's potential is starting to be realised.
In an age when voters get their information from a multiplicity of sources, internet electioneering reaches across class, region and age groups. It allows candidates to target voters with pin-point accuracy.
And it's free. Or as good as.
It costs $60 to mobilise one voter through direct mail, $30 via telephone - but only $1.56 through social networking sites and email.
Paradoxically, while the internet has given John McCain and Barack Obama precision tools to reach their supporters, it has also turned the election into a gigantic free-for-all.
In an unmediated swirl of mistrust, smear and counter-attack, everyone from candidates to cranks and lobby groups fires off messages in the hope that something gets through.
'Ayers'
John McCain, heavily outspent in the field by Barack Obama, relies on the internet to carry most of his advertising. When a new ads is posted online his PR team swings into action, alerting the media and trying to get them to cover the ads. It helps if the ad is controversial.
McCain's campaign chief Steve Schmidt has continually pushed the boundaries of controversy, using the internet to sow vitriolic messages.
Ayers, posted on October 8, is part of a long-running effort to smear Obama as a friend of terrorists. Frighteningly effective when used by Sarah Palin in stump speeches, the smear has multiplied exponentially on the internet.
A search for "Obama" and "terrorist" on Google returns a staggering 8,650,000 hits.
'Lose'
The Obama team for their part are all too aware of what happened to John Kerry, who chose not to respond to slurs about his record in the Swift boats in Vietnam. This allowed the slurs to gain traction.
Any attacks from McCain are met with immediate, internet-based rebuttal. Lose was uploaded within 36 hours of the McCain attack.
'Vote early'
The Obama campaign is often credited with exploiting the internet for grassroots initiatives. Obama's new media director Joe Rospars - who earned his spurs in the Howard Dean campaign - has used email and web to mobilise support and raise millions of dollars in small contributions.
He has been particularly effective in reaching young voters, seen as critical to Obama's success. A stream of celebrity-fronted ads has targetted the YouTube generation, encouraging them to register to vote or vote early.
This week it was the turn of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel to rally the troops.
'David Plouffe's Strategy Update'
Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe also uses the internet to post a regular web bulletin, updating volunteers on events and strategy.
But is the social networking opportunities offered by the internet that has paid Barack Obama the richest dividends.
Obama has 98,623 followers on Twitter, 709,606 friends on MySpace and 2.14 million Facebook supporters (McCain, by contrast, has 575,701). Social networking sites are a chance for Obama to engage supporters and make them feel part of something.
'What's your Obama tax cut?'
On www.barackobama.com there are dedicated areas and contact tools to help volunteers "knock doors" and "make calls". There's an event finder, a local organiser, a Fight the Smears section - even a tax calculator so that viewers can work out how much they would pay under Obama's and McCain's tax proposals.
The tax calculator was promoted in What's your Obama tax cut?, a slick YouTube ad posted on Tuesday.
The ad makes a change from the usual mish-mash of grainy images, voice-over and headlines. It uses elegant titles and music to demonstrate that Obama's tax cuts would be three times bigger than McCain's and would favour "95 per cent of working families".
'Stand'
Even John McCain's team took time out from the barrage of vitriol to put together a catchy, upbeat online ad called Stand.
It shows a succession of young Americans talking to camera against brightly-coloured backgrounds. In synched delivery they declare that they stand with John McCain "for ... energy security .. environmental stewardship ... green technology ... lower taxes ... job creation ... free trade" and a host of other issues.
The ad is so good you could be forgiven for thinking it was from Barack Obama.
James von Leyden is a copywriter and brand strategist.
