Presidential Race

Now more than ever, the race for the presidential hot seat in 2016 is decided by social media platforms and those who use social media sites constantly. More and more, presidential candidates are relying on a social media presences to draw voters. This is especially true considering millennials will be an important segment of the voting population in the upcoming election.

Major uproar was caused this week when Jeb Bush tweeted a picture of his gun. The gun was emblazoned with “Gov. Jeb Bush” and he proudly used the caption “America” to describe his weapon. Many took exception to the tweet and reprimanded the presidential candidate for his lack of judgement when tweeting the photo. Yet, many agreed with the picture, which helped illustrate the current divide that is going on in the country because of this political election.

Further divide can arise anytime presidential elect Donald Trump sends out a tweet to his followers. The bombastic candidate frequently uses Twitter to tout his own poll numbers or to take down his opponents. However, the past week illustrated that Trump can create his own controversies on Twitter, whether it through his arguments with the Pope or his attacks on Jeb Bush.

Even on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders supporters take to social media to exemplify the positives of their chosen candidate. They tweet or Facebook meme’s that give examples of Bernie’s connection with the younger generation compared to Hillary Clinton.

While all these online social campaigns exist, one must ask what effect they have on the candidates. No actual numbers may be attributed until after specific dates and further more may be added on until the actual date so it would be inaccurate do describe the amount of supporters at the recent Equality Rally.

We live in a world where social media will play a considerable role in the presidential outcome. No matter who you vote for, the younger voter must understand the ramifications of their actions.

Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl 50 was played on Sunday and as always, the advertising industry was on display as advertising agencies showed off their work with their clients with their Super Bowl ads. Super Bowl ads are rarely such anymore, with companies putting their ads online in the days and weeks before the game and often running entire campaigns around the ads. Now, there is more of a push to integrate the ad into multiple online platforms, which is what many companies chose to do by adding little things to their ads such as hashtags. In addition, there is a greater focus on the ads and how creative, funny and emotional they are, meaning ad agencies and companies need to bring their best work to the table.

The ads that run during the Super Bowl range from funny to serious, but there is no doubt the importance of getting your companies message across. These are high stakes for ad agencies, as their clients pour millions of dollars into :30 second ads. Therefore, the message that the product is attempting to send needs to be clear and it needs to resonate with the audience. This is why companies often put their ads out early, or pair the ad with a website or social media account. This gives the ad more exposure than just the :30 seconds, and it can lead to better interactions with the consumers. Companies need to get creative if they want their ad to stand out. For example, Doritos has been crowd-sourcing their Super Bowl ads for the past four years, although one of their ads this year started a conversation that didn’t involve their chips.

Personally, my favorite ad of the Super Bowl was T-Mobile’s ad featuring Steve Harvey. Verizon has run their “balls” ad over the past few months, demonstrating their superiority in the telecommunications market. However, T-Mobile turned the tables on them in this ad, claiming that Verizon was using last year’s data. Even better, they got Steve Harvey to re-enact his infamous Miss Universe blunder. It was a clever ad from T-Mobile and Steve Harvey comes out looking great, thanks to his ability to laugh at himself.