Pete Snyder And Buttlickers
By Greg L | 4 February 2013 | RPV, Virginia Politics, Humor & Satire | 4 Comments
Sometimes, YouTube is a dubious friend.
In this instance, Lieutenant Governor candidate Pete Snyder posted a video on YouTube, and it helpfully suggested some other “related” videos that I might be interested in watching after I finished with Pete. In this case, there are some news clips, something about a swine flu panic, a cow, a couple of other videos I can’t immediately classify, and a picture of some guy licking a girl’s nearly naked butt — all of which are somehow “related” to Snyder and his campaign.
Either YouTube likes Pete XIII a lot, or not. It’s hard to tell.
Which brings us to the problems inherent in using YouTube as a delivery medium for political messaging. What you see after a video plays is a mix of what YouTube thinks is relevant to the content you just watched, and what it thinks, based on your previous viewings, are of interest to you generally. A campaign can’t control what is shown after a video plays, and ends up leaving their visual messaging to the mercy of a YouTube algorithm that may, or in this case certainly does not make connections the campaign would appreciate.
In my case I have an eleven year-old daughter who has discovered dance music and is determined to show me everything she likes. YouTube apparently makes a connection with Pete XIII’s “pig rig” so you get all the references to animal husbandry, and thinks I’m a pre-teen interested in the dance music that is using that unfortunate butt licking image as a thumbnail for a dance music video (as if a pre-teen would appreciate that - c’mon YouTube!) next to a picture of a bovine.
So a voter in my situation ends up with imagery of animal infectious diseases and soft-core pornography after watching Pete XIII’s video. Not quite optimal connections for a campaign, at all.
So here’s a hint to all the political campaigns out there - be aware that when you post a campaign video on a site where you cannot control all the variables, they could become a problem, unless your campaign doesn’t particularly mind cementing images of soft-core porn and animals alongside your campaign.
I imagine most campaigns wouldn’t want that, so they might want to pay attention here.
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Bull and kissing butt? You betcha. YouTube absolutely nailed this one.
Is Kissing Babies now passe?
Knew that politicians pandered, butt to that level.
You know that youtube basis those suggestions on what you normally watch.
Just sayin’. . . .
I just watched that video and I didn’t get that result at the end. Those videos are usually suggestions based on YOUR viewing habits. All I got was 100% Pete videos with him apparently on FoxNews or something.