WEBVTT - Lab 031: Persuadables 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.880 The other day, I was on Pinterest and it linked 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.240 me to a latch hook rug. I was trying to 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:07.200 make a. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:11.280 Rug from yarn scraps. Why do you have yarn scraps? 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:13.800 I don't have them yet, Okay, I was gonna get them. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.760 I want to make something. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.439 Oh my god, where are you gonna? Who do do 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.280 people purchase yarn scraps? 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.080 No, but that's the problem. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.480 So you gotta knit or something and then have leftover 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.760 yarn and then you can make the rug. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.080 I don't listen. I saw it on Pinterest. It was 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.279 a latchuk rug or it was a punch needle. I 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.519 was really liking all of those fiber arts, and I said, oh, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.080 I'm gonna watch your tutorial on YouTube. And when I 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.400 got to YouTube, it was all presidential election twenty twenty. 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.360 YouTube looked defer Rent. Okay. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:49.520 Same. Every time I get on Twitter, I can't even 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:55.400 scroll like one thumb up without somebody tweeting about the election. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.480 And I'm like, I just want to see tweets about versus. 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:04.360 I just want to see tweets about, you know, Lovecraft country. 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:09.200 I need a break from all of that. I'm TT 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:35.480 and I'm Zachiah and from Spotify. This is dope Labs. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.760 I'm getting a lot of information about the election, and 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.479 it's just everywhere. I'm having an election burnout. 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.720 Right, It's haunting my dreams two more months ago. It 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.200 feels like an eternity away, Like twenty twenty is the 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:53.000 longest year of all time. I feel like two months 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.840 into election, I mean, how old am I going to 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:56.640 be in two months? 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:57.440 Forty seven? 0:01:57.640 --> 0:01:59.760 Definitely at least forty seven. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.000 And the ads are not stopping on these different platforms. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.559 It's not stopping at YouTube, it's not stopping with people 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.200 tweeting stuff. I'm also getting text messages. First of all, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.239 my name is not William, but the messages are saying, 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.960 like them cities are burning, what are you going to do? 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.200 And I'm like, what is happening? Is this about what's 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.440 happening in California? I don't think so, right, what's going on? 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.160 I'm getting text messages from all over They're like the 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.840 Great State of North Carolina. I'm like, I don't live 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:28.600 in North Carolina. 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.359 Somebody has got something mixed up along the way. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:32.919 There's something mixed up, and so I'll respond, I'm like, 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:34.600 I don't live in North Carolina. They're like, okay, I'll 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.520 remove you from our list. Then the next day I 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.799 get three more text messages about North Carolina where the 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:41.560 polls are in North Carolina. Doesn't help me. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.600 Man, When you just said okay, I'll remove you from 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.119 our list, I felt so optimistic. I picked up my phone. 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.720 I was ready to reply to every spam message I received. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.200 No, they don't remove you. They just keep going. They 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:57.440 just keep going. Today's lab is all about political ads. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.360 Specifically how political ads play a role in our greater 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.320 political behavior, and the strategies that are used to make 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.760 political ads. Let's get into the recitation. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:09.600 So what do we know? 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.080 We know political advertising has been around since American government 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:14.720 has been around. 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:18.079 Basically, Yes, I saw Hamilton and they were definitely using 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:18.919 political ads. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:22.760 But things have changed a little bit. 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.119 Yeah, Because I mean when you think back to when 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.560 we were young, you would see, you know, political ads 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:29.840 on television, you would hear them on the radio. But 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:34.680 now with Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and all these 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.880 things like that, they've got a lot of different ways 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.480 to hit us with the political ads. 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.000 And even though it feels like the election season is 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.640 longer than it used to be, for some reason. I 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.560 don't know if it's because we were all at home, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.920 but I feel like it's been politics NonStop and it 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:54.640 may feel like it couldn't be possible, but it seems 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.960 like the ads are ramping up the closer and closer 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:58.000 we get to the election. 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.160 Absolutely, I'm getting to messages literally every day. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.160 Well what do we want to know? 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.040 Well, I want to know the history of political ads 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.040 and how they've changed over time. 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.120 And I'm interested in the different objectives like what do 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.440 you think this text message is going to do? 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.479 And I think another important thing to figure out is 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.320 what actually gets people to act? So after they see 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.680 an ad in whatever form, what is it about the 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.080 ad that gets them to do something about what they 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.200 just saw? And what assumptions are there about how people 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:32.679 will act? 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.720 And then just thinking about once you know what gets 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.360 people to act, how are you leveraging technology? So has 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.360 social media given these campaigns an advantage? Right? 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:43.640 It? 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.680 Is there something about social media that's better than more 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.160 traditional forms of ads. I imagine it's more responsive than 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:50.760 a billboard. 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:55.120 But how that's a really good question, like and do 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.880 they work? Do political ads work? Are they changing folks' minds? 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.000 I'll say, when I see too me the ads, I'm 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.680 turned off. So is there a risk? 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.400 Is there a limit? Like, yeah, do people get tired 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.480 of seeing the same ad over and over again? I 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.960 think that's true for some people, But I guess we 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.680 got to find out. Let's jump into the dissection. 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.520 So we're switching things up today and we're bringing in 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.039 not just one, but two guest experts to talk to 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.280 us through the complexity and nuance of political advertising. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.320 Our first guest is doctor Cheryl Laird. 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.479 My name is Cheryl Laird. I am a professor of 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.839 Government and Legal Studies at Voden College. 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.080 Doctor Laired's research is based on political behavior, specifically black 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.839 political behavior and how that relates to public opinion. So 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.680 she's really focused on the consumer side of political ads. 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.360 How do ads affect a person's behavior. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.320 Our second guest is Jenna Golden. Hi. 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.920 My name is Jenna Golden, and I work with companies 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.719 and organizations that are looking to better understand how to 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:04.720 tap into the advertising ecosystem in Washington, DC. Prior to this, 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.160 I ran the political and advocacy sales team at Twitter. 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.159 So while doctor Laird focuses on the receiving end and 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.080 the effect of political ads. Jenna Golden focuses more on 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.080 the advertiser side, working on things like strategy, and. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.520 We're going to talk about those strategies and their effect 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:23.160 a little bit later in the show. 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.680 But first let's walk through the history of political ads. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.520 Political ads have always been around, it's just been in 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.839 different forms. So before the invention of the printing press, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.120 it was all in person, so they would get up 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.560 on stage and say why you should be voting for them. 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.000 Post the printing press, you could put up a flyer 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:41.039 that says, hey, vote for me. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.480 And then when radio came along, it changed the game. 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.280 You could get on the radio say hey, I support Canada, X, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.720 Y and Z, give all the drama, all the emotion, 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.520 and you would just broadcast over the waves. Everyone was 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:54.080 tuning in. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:55.400 Here's doctor Laird. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:07:00.599 So I mean the advent of various technological advancements. So 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.320 as we've moved and progressed on our technology, political advertising 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.200 has been able to shift in a number of ways. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.520 But this was especially true with the boom of television 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:10.760 in the nineteen fifties. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.920 But really, I think the biggest step towards advertising that 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.040 I think we still see today, right is the visual, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.160 the pairing of the visual and the audio. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.400 In nineteen fifty two, with television hitting the scene, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.239 who wasn't president at the time but would become our president, 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.760 later created a campaign of forty twenty second commercials called 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.800 Eisenhower Answers America, where he answered questions posed by Americans 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:38.680 about very specific issues. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.840 Since then, political TV ads have become the dominant form 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.440 of campaign advertising, eclipsing even social media. Here's Jenna. 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.160 If you look at the budgets of political advertising, you 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.920 will still see that the vast majority of budget is 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.800 spent on television ads. So it is still TV that 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:01.840 is king when it comes to the dollars. TV is 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.680 not measurable the way that digital is measurable. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.720 That's right. Social media has now opened the floodgates for 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:13.440 a whole new form of political advertising. Unlike television, social 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.720 media advertising is targetable and measurable. So even if you 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.520 want to reach a very specific group of people, like 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.120 within a zip code or a certain age group or 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:27.080 a certain racial demographic, you can do that with micro targeting. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.040 You know, the micro targeting that is available on digital 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.440 is you know, ten times deeper than what you get elsewhere. 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.920 So this means each ad that is seen or an 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:41.360 ad impression theoretically has more impact because you're reaching the 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.760 exact group of people that you want to Doctor later 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.840 agrees that social media ads are a game changer, and 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.319 for a multitude of reasons. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.000 Social media is like broken the whole like space on 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.400 this now, right, like with Twitter and Facebook and all 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.200 these different in YouTube and you know, just clicking on 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.840 the websites, I mean, like anything now you are just 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.440 seeing advertising. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.480 And that repeat exposure, so like across all of those 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:10.920 platforms is another thing that sets social media advertises apart 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:15.000 from its predecessors. Every click of the mouse or tap 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.160 on your screen is a new opportunity for a fresh 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.360 ad to be thrown in your face. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.000 And so from a campaigner's perspective, the more you click, 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.840 the more I understand about you as a user of 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.120 the Internet. This helps the campaign get down to the 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.880 exact target population they want to reach. And sometimes a 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.600 type of ad they send you depends on what stage 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.559 the campaign is in. Here's doctor Laird, So. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.160 It depends for instance, on the target of the ad, right, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:45.520 like what are you trying to do with your ad? 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:50.640 And so people have hired firms, people hire consultants, people 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.160 get focus groups together. I mean like there's a lot 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.480 of money invested into how do you advertise to people 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:57.480 and what are you appealing to? 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.840 Jena breaks down the objectives of campaign advertise into four 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:05.479 different stages, awareness, acquisition, persuasion, and mobilization. 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.400 In a lot of cases, especially if it's a newer 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.760 candidate that people are not familiar with, it starts with 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.480 what we call awareness, and really the goal here is 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.720 let's just get out this name and this information to 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.880 as many people as possible that potentially are within our 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.160 sort of space or geography, so that we get the 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:24.720 awareness that we need for the candidate. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.080 Right. So, when you think back to any type of 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.240 primary elections, and it always during the primaries, you see 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.480 a bunch of new names. So when a new candidate 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.480 comes out and it's primary season and not a lot 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.840 of people know that person, the aim of that campaign 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.840 team is to get that person's name out so that 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.680 more folks know who they are and they recognize the 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:47.640 name when they see it. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:52.040 But then the campaign, especially from an advertising standpoint, moves 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.360 to the acquisition stage. And what I mean by acquisition 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.720 is there are really two pieces of data that every 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:03.199 political campaign wants. One is your email address. Piece two 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.120 in the acquisition stage that they're working really hard at 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.480 is acquiring money, so it's fundraising. 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.120 So boom. If I know you know who my candidate is, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.199 I want to know who you are. So I want 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:18.120 to build a huge listser of people who know my candidate, 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.880 like my candidate, and are willing to support my candidate 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.000 with a couple of coins. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.080 Yeah. So if I see the name Zakiah Wattley and 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.920 I'm like, okay, let me go research her website. So 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:31.719 I go to her website and I find out more 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.480 about her. I'm like, okay, that's cool. And then they 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.640 say put your email here to sign up for this 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.280 list serve so that or to find out any updates 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.200 on Zakia Wattley. And so I put in my email 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.160 address because I want to know more. Now they have 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.040 a way to target me with more of their ads. 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.200 And that's exactly what I did to become your friend. 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:58.160 I knew it. I was like, hmm, where have I 0:11:58.320 --> 0:11:59.760 heard this name before. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.439 Then it moves to persuasion, and persuasion is where you 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.560 really start to see the content change. This is where 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.240 I'm trying to reach people to persuade them to vote 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.160 for my candidate or come to my side. Oftentimes you 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:19.720 hear in the political ad world people call their target 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:24.320 as persuadables. So if I'm Joe Biden, what I want 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.120 to do is I want to target the people in 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.080 the middle that aren't sure and they have the ability 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.120 to be persuaded. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.160 So here, if you're already team Zakiyah, I don't want 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:34.920 to talk to you anymore. Really, I'm not spending any 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.040 more money on you. I'm looking for the people who 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.800 are like, huh, could be Team Zakiah, could be Team TT. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.199 I want those people in the middle, and then I'm 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.680 going to try to persuade them like, hey, TT's not 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:49.760 really that nice, She's just pretending. Wait. So, one of 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.520 the most effective forms of persuasion, doctor Lay says is 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.640 the emotive appeal that's trying to get an emotional response. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.680 One of the most common emotions that ads will try 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.040 and in sight is fear, and one of the most 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.400 notable political ads that use fear as its tactic was 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.880 from nineteen sixty four, when Lyndon B. Johnson was running 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:11.079 against Barry Goldwater. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.400 The Daisy ad from LBJ where you have the little 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.000 girl playing with the flower and then you see the 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:21.040 large like atomic explosion go on. And this fear that's 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:23.560 supposed to be garnered from that ad, right, like the 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.360 innocence of this young woman is at stake because we 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.480 are in the midst of this fear of potentially being 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.360 annihilated by these weapons of mass destruction. 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.400 That is traumatizing. I can't even believe they were showing 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:36.360 that on television. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.199 This was also the case during the nineteen eighty eight 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.640 election between Michael Ducaccus and George Bush Senior. Here there 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.120 was an ad that incided fear and was also pretty 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.360 problematic and harmful. 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.520 And when we say problematic, what we mean is racist. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:55.080 The one where they talk about Ducacus on crime and 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.560 they show the image of Willy Horton, right, and that 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.600 the furlough that was granted to Willy Horton allowed him 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.600 to basically go and commit another felony against a couple, right, 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.560 And that that was something showing that the Caucus is 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.120 soft on crime and that Bush would be a better 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.920 person to put into office. But with doing that, they're 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:18.640 also triggering onto these implicit racial appeals. Right, So they 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.960 are trying to invoke for a white audience, in particular, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.080 this fear of the black criminal. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.240 So that's a problem, right, because it's bigger than I 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.480 want to win this presidential election. This is influencing people's 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:36.520 feelings about black people. And I feel like it's negligent 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:38.680 to put out stuff like that. You need to focus 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.760 talk about the issue. You don't need to have like 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.800 someone as the poster child, because then you run into 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.600 issues where people will start to discriminate against certain people 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.320 that look a certain way or sound a certain way, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.880 that fit the profile of the person that you're putting 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:54.840 in this political ad. 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.280 And I think we still see traces of that to 0:14:58.480 --> 0:14:59.040 this day. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:00.520 Oh my, oh gosh. 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:00.840 Yeah. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.280 So beyond fear, there are some other well known methods 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.400 of persuasion as well, like negative advertising or focusing on 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.840 a single issue that voters care about, whether it's war, economy, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:11.960 or global pandemic. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:17.480 We are seeing so many ads during this election cycle 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.400 that touch on the pandemic. There's a lot. I mean, 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.400 we've been trying to stay away from talking about the 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.920 pandemic and the coronavirus, but it's so hard because it's 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.080 a part of really everything that we're doing these days, 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.720 and so putting it into political ads, it definitely taps 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.480 into a lot of emotions that people are having. 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.480 Taking that persuasion right through the roof. So just a recap, 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:44.520 we've gone through the first three stages of campaign advertising, awareness, acquisition, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:46.040 and persuasion. 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:50.240 And then lastly we have what we call mobilization or GOOTV, 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.880 and GOOTV stands for get off the vote. So there's 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.440 a big gap between people who say that they're going 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.320 to vote and people who actually vote, and so the 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.240 messaging happens in those last stages mobilization and get off 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.120 the vote. A lot of it is here's a reminder 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.800 of where your polling place is. Here's what time the 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.440 polling place opens. Make sure that you're there early. Don't 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.760 forget that your apps and tee ballad is coming. This 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.360 is how you mail it in. This is how you 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:17.920 make sure it gets there on time. 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.400 With those objectives in minds, campaigns reach out to potential 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:26.160 voters using mailers, emails, TV ads, social media ads, phone calls, 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.360 and a whole bunch of other methods. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.560 You know, it's really one thing to say, I like 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.040 this ad, I understand more about this candidate. I'm willing 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.320 to share my email or donate, But I think it's 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.520 very different when it comes to actual mobilization. I think 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.200 sometimes it takes different motives to get you out of 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.360 the door, to vote, out of the door, to attend 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:46.360 a political rally. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.120 Yeah, the activation energy is different for different people. So 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.600 it's not just like, oh, we all are going to 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:54.520 register and we're all going to get out to vote, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.280 like some of the things that folks need to do 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.600 to be able to feel empowered to do those those things, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:02.560 it's a lot harder for them. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.320 Yeah, ideally everyone would be able to just drop that 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.280 ballot in the mail, done right, right. But I am ready. 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.000 While I might be burned out on the ads, when 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.159 it's time to vote, I am ready. Me and my 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.199 little Instagram stories. How will be there to cheer you on, 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.800 to say, hey, did you vote yet? Hey, this is 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.560 what you can do in your state. I want to 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.520 use my voice to kind of help somebody over the 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.679 hurdle if it will even help them. I'm there to 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:28.080 do it. 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.040 Right, and I think we should all be doing that. Like, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.159 if you know where your polling place is, put up 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.359 the link for how you figured that out, show a 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.679 step by step, do a screen recording, and post it. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.199 I actually have a friend that did that. She showed 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:40.960 how she figured out where her polling place was and 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.040 I was like, this is amazing. It makes it seem 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.320 so easy, you know what I'm saying, And it should 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.720 be easy because it's the American way. Voting is a 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.720 part of our democratic system and we should all be 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.919 doing it. I'm excited to vote. I'm very excited to vote, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.679 and I'm excited to get y'all energized about voting. 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:02.680 If you're not already, and look out for our Instagram, Twitter, 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.880 it's gonna be on our website at Dope Labs podcast 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:06.960 dot com. We're gonna tell you everything you need to 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.040 know about registering to vote, and then when it's time 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.120 to vote, what you should do then too. 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.360 We're gonna take a quick break, and when we get back, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.879 we're gonna talk more about social media, the political ad space, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:33.040 and how your Internet activity determines what you see. 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.480 And we're back. We're talking to two guest experts, doctor 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.800 Cheryl Laird and Jenna Golden about the history, objectives, and 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:44.280 effects of political ads. 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.159 Like we said earlier, the Internet has really changed the 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.359 game within the political atmosphere with the rise of social 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:54.919 media advertising campaigns, and even those people not directly affiliated 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.119 with campaigns are able to specifically target certain voters and 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.919 then give them exposure to certain ads. 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.719 So how do social media ads target people? What criteria 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:07.520 do they use? Jenna breaks it down. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.159 So there's sort of these two camps, and one is 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.600 information that you choose to actively share, and the second 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.639 is sort of informed information based on the actions and 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.240 steps that you take. So you'll see both are ways 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.439 that brands and organizations can ultimately target you. 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.520 I went to Zakia's website because I'm interested in possibly 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.920 voting for her, and when I get there, I put 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.760 in my email address, I put in my age, I 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:40.160 put in my zip code maybe, so from there they 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.360 have a lot of information about me, where I live, 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.440 how old I am, so a lot about my demographic 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.040 and that is me actively sharing. 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:54.840 But because tt has selected many Instagram ads, purchased many 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:58.600 embroidered sweatshirts across the web, I know a little bit 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:03.520 more about her, and so those are things that she's 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.160 not actively sharing, but those are things that I'm collecting 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.560 through her cookies on her website. That are describing the 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.639 type of person she is on the web. 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.919 Cookies is like leaving breadcrumbs wherever you go these website 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:16.639 you go to, you drop a few bread crumbs so 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.040 they know you were there. Because I mean, your cookies 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:19.400 are there. 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:21.640 There's a whole bunch of data that's being collected there 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:26.600 your cookies, and in that data is information about your preferences, 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:31.400 information about your gender, information about your social identities, information 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.080 about your background, and now the types of ads that 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.399 you can get towards you will be specific in what 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.399 people think may be appealing to you, and that's like 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:44.000