Will Teens Tune In For The Debates?
Posted by casey on 09-26-2008
The Wall Street Journal's Juggle blog raised an interesting question today: What does it take to interest kids in politics? With the first debate set to take place tonight, the WSJ wonders how many teens will tune in. After the drama over whether tonight's debate would actually happen, I find it hard to imagine to that kids will be willing to trade their Friday night plans for a evening in front of the TV. Still, I'm sure that teens interested in this election will watch the highlights, lowlights or other gaffes on YouTube.
To expand on The WSJ's question, everyone from campaigners to candidates would like to know not only whether or not teens are tuning in, but whether youth 18 and up will actually turn out to vote in large numbers. Many websites think celebrity endorsements are the solution to catching the attention of teens and young voters. Rock The Vote has Santogold and Soulja Boy, Declare Yourself has America Ferrera and the cast of "Greek," and Ur Votes Count has Selena Gomez. Teen magazines have also added campaign coverage to their website – Seventeen's "Electionista" and Teen Vogue's "Political Partier" – and write in an accessible, entertaining format that would appeal to teen girls.
The latest election website that's hoping to attract teens is Shop The Vote! The name alone sure caught my attention, but the concept itself didn't quite live up to my expectations. According to the press release, Shop The Vote! is "the first digital out-of-home public service campaign designed to reach these critical citizens before November 4 in the environments that matter to them most: in stores, online and on their mobile phones." The idea is definitely unique, but the downside is that the two stores they're trying to reach teens through are F.Y.E. and Journeys — neither of which I've set foot in for years. To cover all of their bases, Shop The Vote! has a variety of famous names (Olivia Wilde, the cast of "American Teen") attached, too. While it's great that all of these youth voting sites exist, we all know that the real impact will be viral, i.e. reaching teens where they hang out already, on MySpace and Facebook, or connect more directly through cell phones and PDAs.
So….Will all of these youth-targeted promotions work? I guess we'll know November 4th.
Categorized under: Fashion, TV, Youth Marketing
