On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Sen. Barack Obama hit the airwaves with an infomercial of political proportions. Appearing on several networks, the 30-minute advertisement garnered 26.4 million viewers, which only proved that he has quite a loyal following.
Essentially the infomercial touched on several key points of his campaign and gave the potential president a chance to tell Americans what he has in store for the country provided that he makes it into the White House. While some Republicans viewed the segment as overkill, democrats seemed to think it was essential.
In an interview with Yahoo News, Jim Jordan, a democratic strategist, said the segment was inspirational. He said that it was timed to influence undecided voters who often have the chance to determine a close race in the final days of the election.
“There is a discrete segment of the electorate, primarily female, who are late deciders,” Jordan said in the interview. “They care about policy and elections, but they are very, very busy. Then they go and seek and acquire information.”
Obama’s infomercial appeared on Fox, CBS, BET and NBC and consisted of pre-taped segments of the senator addressing viewers on his campaign trial. There were also several small segments of Obama speaking with individuals about their economic plights.
According to MSNBC.com, the infomercial marked the first paid national political telecast since Ross Perot who did the same in 1992 and needless to say, the move is very smart.
Jay Christie for the editorial board.