Friday, August 25, 2006

Target audience

The other day I was having lunch with a friend of mine who works for Gov. Granholm. Being a campaign year, her boss's reelection campaign came up and I mentioned that I didn't like her TV commercials. She took the criticism fairly well but I could tell she thought I was full of crap.

About a week later I noticed that Granholm was rising in the polls and is now leading Devos 50-43 which is the best position she has been in quite a while. So I emailed my friend and told her that I had obviously misjudged the commercial's effectiveness. She wrote back and said that she never pre-judges any commercials herself because she is not the target audience. Which got me to thinking that I must not be the target audience either.

How funny that two well informed and educated people are not the target audience. But politics by default has to play to the larger uninformed electorate because that's where the votes are. This isn't to say that the public isn't capable of seeing through the BS most of the time but most people are simply too busy with their own life to pay much attention to Lansing unless it impacts them directly. Sadly, many politicians take advantage of that attention deficit and count on voter apathy and ignorance. And we wonder why people are disenfranchised by government?

1 comment:

Jackson said...

Hi Fetzer,

I think Granholm's gas ad was quite effective. There is something to be said when a candidate talks directly to the voters without the flash and buzz you see in the typical campaign ad.

This, combined with good economic news from around the state, has helped Granholm. Michiganders are seeing the Governor actively work with companies to invest in Michigan and if the momentum continues, she will see another four years in November.

Thanks and go Steelers!!