As Daniel Foster writes at the Corner, MSNBC’s new slogan is but a letter a way from a very old one:
A number of readers have pointed out that MSNBC’s new tag-line is but a letter away from “Leap Forward” — as in, Mao’s Great one.
Others point out that in the freestyle riffing on the Declaration of Independence in the voice-over for the MSNBC ad, the words “endowed by their Creator” are left out — just as President Obama recently left them out of a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Others point out that in the freestyle riffing on the Declaration of Independence in the voice-over for the MSNBC ad, the words “endowed by their Creator” are left out — just as President Obama recently left them out of a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Forward” — as in, Mao’s Great one.Others point out that in the freestyle riffing on the Declaration of Independence in the voice-over for the MSNBC ad, the words “endowed by their Creator” are left out — just as President Obama recently left them out of a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
In his earlier post, Dan dubbed it MSNBC’ “‘Lean Forward’ (This Won’t Hurt a Bit) Campaign:”
I can only say bravo to the ad wizards who sold MSNBC on this one. Besides being ripe for parody — in response, Fox News should change its tag-line to ‘Start With Your Weight On Your Back Foot, Swing From The Shoulder, And Rotate Your Torso Through The Punch’ — the ‘Lean Forward’ concept seems a rather half-hearted attempt by MSNBC to gloss its same-old lefty line with a coat of empty post-ideological babble (sort of like ‘Yes, We Can!’), while still deploying the right signal words to its core liberal audience. In an announcement for the campaign, network VP Sharon Otterman says “MSNBC wants to be the champion for those who believe in progress,” and that the taglinge “captures the cultural momentum for progress that resonates strongly with our audience.” Who could she be talking to here?
“Lean Forward” isn’t a re-branding, it’s a confession via euphemism that MSNBC will continue to be what they’ve always been.
What a waste of money.
Meanwhile, that 800-pound gorilla in the room — Fox News — is conspicuous by its absence from the announcement. The MSNBC release goes on at length about how the network has “topped CNN for four consecutive quarters” across a variety of time slots and demographics. But it says nothing about the pummeling it takes at the hands of the big boys. This is but more continuity. MSNBC — the network that employs Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann — has long taken the nose-aloft position that Fox News is biased and unserious, and thus not a ‘real’ competitor.
As Dan writes, MSNBC’s slogan is “ripe for parody” — and we’re happy to take the hint. You can see the original slogan for this ad at the Huffington Post. I think over version captures infinitely better MSNBC’s elusive relationship with something that they’d put into square quotes: “the truth.”
Related: Meanwhile, at CNN: “Client 9, Viewers 0,” Jim Treacher quips.
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