Carson's campaign announced Wednesday, November 4th, they will be rolling out a new ad to be aired in markets with predominantly African-American populations. The ad titled "Freedom," will soon be heard in Miami, Atlanta, Detroit, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Little Rock, and Houston. The ad features young artist Aspiring Mogul, and uses samples and overdubs of Ben Carson speaking, urging listeners to vote. While Carson's voice clips feature lines such as,
"I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free and we must fight for it every day...Every one of us must fight for it because we're fighting for our children and the next generation,"Mogul's lyrics attempt to motivate listeners to cast their vote for Carson. Such attempts are made with lines like,
"Vote and support Ben Carson for our next president and be awesome...If we want to get America back on track, we got to vote for Ben Carson matter of fact."Along with not being in the running for a Grammy anytime soon, Carson faces the more immediate challenge of juggling his own contradictory sentiments regarding hip-hop and the African-American community. His new ad is meant to target areas with high concentrations of African-American populations, yet he went on record in April suggesting that hip-hop "plays a role in destroying the African-American community." Carson further elaborated on the effects he believes hip-hop has on the community stating,
"We need to reestablish faith in our communities and the values and principles that got us through slavery, that got us through Jim Crow, and segregation, and all kinds of horrible things that were heaped upon us [...] Why were we able to get through those? Because of our faith, because of our family, because of our values, and as we allow the hip-hop community to destroy those things for us, and as we grasp onto what's politically correct and not what is correct, we continue to deteriorate."In a campaign trail littered with backpedaling and elaborate explanations of contradictory statements, this is anything but uncharted territory for the former Neurosurgeon. While Carson gives credit and trust to his advisers, he noted he would've likely taken a different approach to the ad and overall strategy. With his numbers in the polls trending neck and neck with GOP front runner Donald Trump, it will be interesting to see how Carson's unconventional campaign strategy and mockery serve him in the long haul.
Sources and Polls:
Ben Carson Blasts Hip-Hop
Ben Carson Campaign Rolls Out Rap Ad
Ben Carson- "Freedom" Ad (Sound Cloud)
2016 Republican Presidential Nomination
Contradictions and backpedaling are key elements that the media should exploit when informing the public about presidential candidates - Graber talks about how the media also exploits personal information that is detrimental to a politicians campaign. There's a fine line between what's politically relevant and what is an invasion of privacy and the media crosses it regularly.
ReplyDeleteContradictions and backpedaling are key elements that the media should exploit when informing the public about presidential candidates - Graber talks about how the media also exploits personal information that is detrimental to a politicians campaign. There's a fine line between what's politically relevant and what is an invasion of privacy and the media crosses it regularly.
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