Comedy Central to run funny Obama ad

By GottaLaff


Comedy Central has chosen the above ad by MoveOn.Org to run for a week:

For the first time, Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and “The Colbert Report” will be broadcasting a political advertisement, one promoting Senator Barack Obama.

Tony Fox, a spokesman for Comedy Central, said he did not know why the cable channel had not accepted political advocacy advertising before, but said of the decision to do so now: “Political advertising in an election year is good business.”

He also said that this particular spot, produced by members of MoveOn.org Political Action, the liberal action group, was humorous and would be a good fit with Comedy Central’s young, politically sophisticated audience. It is entitled “It Could Happen to You” and features Rider Strong, the former star of “Boy Meets World,” and Amber Benson of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

MoveOn will spend $150,000 to run it for one week on Comedy Central and MTV, which had not accepted political advertising for more than a decade but reversed that policy a month ago. [...]

MoveOn said its commercial was “in part” a response to an anti-Obama commercial that ran last week on MTV by Let Freedom Ring, a conservative advocacy group. It said it also wants to try to increase turnout among young voters.

“It Could Happen to You” was selected by members of MoveOn.org in a contest for 30-second pro-Obama videos and was voted the funniest. The title refers to the possibility that voters could catch Mr. Obama’s message of hope, making fun of “hope” as if it were a contagious disease.

The spot is to run both nationally and on local cable in Washington, D.C., where political journalists are likely to see it and promote it for free.

Humor is always a great vehicle for communication and for creating a bond. I know that to be true, because I teach comedy. Making people laugh also makes people listen. If I can get talkative hormonal teens with permanently affixed iPods and cell phones to listen, MoveOn should be able to reach a few young voters with a funny 30 second ad. Funny works.