Yes We Can!
In 2008 America’s first black presidential candidate began his bid for the white house. So Charismatic was he with his tall confident stature, bright smile and approach to people. But this would not win him the White house, instead his victory would come from his catch slogans, used in his speeches during campaigns. Slogans like “yes we can” caught a fire on the internet and became the caption on a variety meme’s with Mr. Obama doing any and everything.
These meme’s were quickly circulated around the internet, reaching and gaining popularity amongst voters young and old. Our soon to be president became a household name and had secured a role in “Popular Culture,” the first president elect to do this (from my point of view).
However he wouldn’t hold his title long, the king of presidential meme’s was on his way and in 2012, during the election of Donald Trump, who by the way has a mouth that can spit out more meme worthy slogans per minute than google (not really, but close).
I am not saying he’s talented or smart what I am’ saying is when it comes to meme’s sometimes the dumbest shit is catchy. Much like those silly You Tube videos of people hurting themselves, that get millions of views.
The meme king Mr. Trump not only brought attention to himself, he also bought attention to his associated party (The Republicans) and his no tolerance “I don’t give a fuck” mentality was attached to that party and circulated via meme’s.
These meme’s at times seem funny, but many of them a reality and a message that soaks in quickly, turning into political movements. The quick transfer of these ideas can spread through the web like wild fire and can be a deciding factor in who win’s or looses an election.
This seems a little scary knowing our democracy could be in the hands of meme’s doesn’t it? I mean consider all these campaigns would have to do is create content (which they have done), pay to have a meme created (which they have done) and pay to have it circulated (which they have also done). But don’t worry the public still controls the web.
According to Limor Shifman and his article “Meme’s in Digital Culture,” media circulated by political parties did not get as much of a response as media circulated by the public and bloggers. Research shows that during a particular campaign only 55,000 views were on ads by the political parties, 66,000 on ads put out by the candidates party and more than 2.5 million views for ads put out by the public bloggers.
The public has the real power and the internet has given the public a platform and super fast way of sharing information. Meme’s have become a popular and creative way of displaying ideas, emotions and information.
Limor, Shifman. (December 2012) “Meme’s in Digital Culture,” Retrieved from URL http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bs14s
Photo by I.pinning.com
BISMCS 333 SUMMER 2017 