The Great Millennial Write-In Vote - #MILLENNIALSFORPRESIDENT (2016)

This is sort of like the great schlep for the me-me-me generation, and entices the target with exactly what millennials want - huge titles without having done the work for it. Dear millennials, vote you for president! As the breathlessly hopeful release says: "Let's force a contested convention and ensure that none of these douchetards secures the nomination." That's the plan, kids. Stop the douchetards. Is that word on fleek? What a tremendous word, tre-men-dous. I love words like this, I have people, they call me and they say they love words like this, they say Donald, worlds like this are terrific, really terrific, and we thank you for bringing them to our attention. Now we can do something about these words. Thanks to our Canadian pals for throwing their creativity in the ring once again, tremendous neighbours to the USA up there, you are, really tremendous. Phenomenal animations.
As a side-note, I find it really amusing how invested Canadians are in US politics when they seem so disinterested in their own elections. I suppose Swedes and Norwegians do the ... uhm... Nope, we don't, actually. I have no idea who runs Norway right now. I suspect that person knows how to ski really well though. I think that's a requirement to be Prime Minister there.

Created by : Ryan Wagman, Mark Sikes, Andrew Miller

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M'nemo's picture

Can't tell if irony.....

kidsleepy's picture

If the point was to get someone to vote and find their primary which seems like it by the end, it took so freaking long to get there I didn't care. More importantly, judging by the number of millennials showing up to Milo Yiannopoulous's college lecture tours, this ad is incredibly biased in assuming there isn't such a thing as a Libertarian or Republican millennial. In other words, this ad is incredibly biased and prejudiced. "I could do a better job," says the person with very little life experience, "so I'll write myself in." At least they got the shallow and superficial part right.

David Felton's picture

I'm closest to the target demographic here - as an official 'millennial' (born in 1987) - although I've never particularly understood or identified with this bracket. To offer some explanation, we talk about 'digital natives', but it wasn't until High School that I got my first email address. The first purchase I ever made online was a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife in the early 2000s and it took me a whole month of persuading for my Dad to let me use his credit card. Back then, ordering anything online was seen as dodgy at best and illegal at worst. So while I've always loved digital, I've never swum through it like a fish through water - nor been massively concerned with my likes and follows. And yet, yes, I'm part of this generation - this homogenous mass of so-called Millennials.

To address the ad itself, I find it ineffective and narcissistic - with a somewhat mixed message. Okay, so these American political candidates are 'douchefucks' or whatever we want to call them - but the concept of nominating Millennials en masse is muddled and silly. But not haha - I wish I'd though of that silly but, meh - I get it, silly. Political satire is rife right now, and the advertising industry is poised at the forefront to make an impact. But pieces like this, while undoubtedly adding to the conversation - don't really have anything useful to say. We know Trump is an egomaniac. But he's also incredibly popular with millions of disaffected middle-class Americans who feel ignored by Obama's progressive policies. Something is rotten in the state of America, and it'll take more than a piece of cheeky satire to make a real impact.

Also, is the narrator Aubrey Plaza? I'm normally freakishly accurate with voiceovers and it sounds exactly like her.

Dabitch's picture

I'm still on the fence on whether this is an ironic self-mocking piece, as that's how I first read it. I mean, I receive a link that's been viewed a puny 500 times on the very day that Cruz and that guy I keep seeing gumming foods in photographs, drop out. So Trump is a given.
As if that hasn't been apparent it would happen for several months now. (Still kicking myself for not betting on it TBH, the odds used to be 9.0, I could have made MONEY.)

The idea is then to replace Trump on these votes with you, yourself. You, you big ego.
Asking the me-generation to vote for themselves just seemed like a self-mocking joke.

We all know that the concept of voting for "not leader", eventually ends up being a vote for the one in the lead.
In Sweden I have voted for a party called "Tomma Stolar", that is empty seats. When empty seats doesn't cross the 4% barrier to actually get an empty seat in parliament, the "lack" of votes helps prop up whomever is in the lead. This is why people who don't vote at all, unintentionally help whomever is in the lead. Voting for the opposition is the only way to trip up whomever it is that you don't want to win. Ten thousand votes for "me", as in ten thousand different individuals is thus not an effective protest - whereas ten thousand votes for specifically "that empty chair" might be (depending on the number of votes you guys need to make a mark). Now, I'm not terribly familiar with the voting in the primaries, but I do know that it's only in specific states that NPP voters can vote in the presidential primary election. NPP meaning "No Party Preference". Like California which has had open primaries since 1996. But having said all that, it's already been settled, and voting for yourself in a presidential primary won't work (everyone gets one vote ie; nobody becomes president).. so .. well. I thought it was an elaborate self-mocking joke.

Having said all that, it seems that it just wants to drag out the lumber-jack-from-Brooklyn generation to figure out how to vote in their primary - except it concentrates on only 'sabotaging' one party. They might have shaken more meh-me people into action if they also encouraged protesting the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea on the Democrat side.

David Felton's picture

If it's self-satire, does it make it better? #NotAllMillennials are plaid-wearing, craft-beer-drinking, designer-beard-sporting narcissists with 200 integrated apps on their iPhone 6+, riding around on a hoverboard with a Fjallraven backpack and a Juice Press smoothie.

Heh, #NotAllMillennials. Now there's a campaign.

Dabitch's picture

Well, kind of yeah, if they're knowingly mocking their reputation as the world sees them to encourage action the world does not expect - I follow along on the idea thus far. Where I get lost is on the vote for yourself part - I have a completely different knowledge base on how primaries work when all of the nominees but one have bowed out but then again I am Swedish. Maybe there are hidden rules I never heard of. It would be quite different if they said "don't vote R or D, Vote Third Party" or some such.