Voting + Conservative + Pizza + YouTube = GOP Propoganda?
Call me cynical, and maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but I found the way that the first student mocks the "change" message we're seeing this election cycle a little disturbing. Why would you mock the #1 reason young people are turning out?
Equally strange was the follow-up line "I could use more change in my pocket." My first response to that was to ask if that was code for "we need more tax cuts."
And let's face it, to use a bad pun, that commercial is totally cheesy. It feels like a half-hearted attempt if anything.
So I went on Open Secrets and did a little digging. Pizza Hut is owned by Yum! Brands, Inc. Yum! Brands also happens to have a PAC of the same name. Here's what their donations look like from the last 4 cycles:
| Cycle | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 |
| Expenditures | $94,773 | $112,157 | $84,500 | $17,500 |
| % Republican | 70 | 79 | 82 | 54 |
| % Democrat | 30 | 21 | 15 | 46 |
That's a whole lot more money going to Republicans than to Democrats. Even now, when a Democratic victory looks pretty good, they're only barely hedging their bets, and Republicans are still getting more money.
Does Pizza Hut really want you to vote? Or do they want you to vote Republican? Or would they rather you just stay home and eat pizza?
The ads are on the air in Nevada and South Carolina.
2008 Youth Vote in Context
The following charts and graphs are meant to contextualize the unique role that young voters played in the 2008 election, and their increasingly important role in a winning electoral coalition:
2008 Youth Electoral Map

2004 Youth Electoral Map

Youth Vote Partisan Advantage: 2000 - 2008

Youth Vote Historical Support: 1976 - 2008

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Weak Sauce
That's a really bad commercial. Like, painfully bad.
The rub
Yeah, there's the rub. Is it JUST a really, really bad commercial? Or something more. It's kinda hard to tell . . .
thumbs down
bad ad. they just sound like assholes.
they should get Budweiser to do the Vote ads. there'd be record turnout for sure.
So Obvious
Great research on this. In my opinion the ad takes a direct swipe at Obama and a blatantly advocates lower taxes. And yes, the acting was awful. Is this story getting coverage elsewhere?