It can be tough for an elderly politician to figure out how to pander to young people. How do you get their votes? What’s hot right now that you can exploit for your own purposes? What was hot five minutes ago but is now the subject of mockery? How do you tell the difference? How do you make the kids these days look at your wrinkled old puss and think, “Sure, why not?”
That’s why we saw stuff like this in 2016:
Look how much fun they’re having!
This sort of thing has been going on ever since Nixon said “Sock it to me?” on Laugh-In, and it’s here to stay. If you want power, you go where the voters can see you and do what you think they want you to do. And if you look dumb doing it, well, it won’t matter once you’re on the throne.
In 2020, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. already has a diehard base of dedicated Trump-haters who would vote for a Glad bag full of moist garbage at this point. What they’re getting is only slightly worse. But what about the rest of those prospective voters out there? How does this fossilized swamp creature reach out to them?
Well, why not make their favorite video games annoying? J. Edward Moreno, The Hill:
Animal Crossing users will now be able to add Joe Biden campaign yard signs to their villages.
The campaign released four styles of campaign signs: the official Biden-Harris logo, the “Team Joe” logo, the “Joe” Pride logo, and an image of aviator sunglasses shaded in red, white, and blue…
“Animal Crossing is a dynamic, diverse, and powerful platform that brings communities together from across the world,” Christian Tom, director of digital partnerships for the Biden campaign, said in a statement to The Hill. “It is an exciting new opportunity for our campaign to engage and connect Biden-Harris supporters as they build and decorate their islands.”
That’s somebody’s job. Somebody gets paid, probably more than you do, to “direct digital partnerships” between political campaigns and video games for children, and then put out bland, meaningless press releases for lazy millennials to turn into “news.”
Today is the first day of fall in Animal Crossing so we’re launching @TeamJoe yard signs!
What says autumn better than the leaves changing color and campaign yard signs?https://t.co/QAqevAgLze
— Christian L. Tom (@cltom) September 1, 2020
I haven’t played Animal Crossing because I’m not a 12-year-old girl and it’s not really a video game unless you kill something, but maybe this will work. After all, “Pokemon Go to the polls” was a big hit. And even AOC plays Animal Crossing, because corporations are evil unless they make stuff you want.
You may recall that back in May, erstwhile Buttigieg staffer Lis Smith suggested that the Biden campaign should “take over” Fortnite. Big ideas like this are why these people make the big bucks and we don’t.
(And yes, libs, if the Trump campaign does stuff like this too, that will be dumb too. Congratulations.)
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