Presidential Election 2008: A New Form of Campaign Advertising was Born

A historic day recently occurred on November 4th, 2008, when votes were casted, and Barack Obama was voted into the office of president of the United States. In what was predicted a long-shot during the start of the presidential campaigning, the first African-American president defeated the republican nominee, John McCain. So what was the key in this stunning 364 – 163 electoral-vote win ? The thing that Barack Obama and his campaign officials did that no other presidential candidate has successfully done was reach out to unregistered voters such as young people and African Americans.

In order to reach out to young voters, Barack Obama’s campaign reached out to internet social sites such as facebook, myspace, and xanga. On top of that, his campaign advertising was taken to a entirely new level in the use of video game advertising. In X-Box 360’s Burning Paradise and NBA Live ‘08, a billboard is used to promote early voting containing a picture of Barack Obama and a link to his website, voteforchange.com . While there is no clear evidence available showing any kind of correlation between video game players and voting, it is possibility that a great deal of those who often play video games do not take much time to stay updated in politics. This advertisement, if successful, could lure young people into checking out the website and become interested in supporting and even campaigning for Barack Obama.

In addition to console video games, many small internet games had been put out to be played for free. Although these were not necessarily put out by the Obama campaign, supporters of Barack Obama had successfully campaigned for the president-elect. These games, again, appealed to the young voters, often college students looking for free games to burn time. Here are two examples:

Obama: Race for the White House - http://www.gamesolo.com/flash-game/obama-game.html
Debate Night: Obama’s Unofficial Game - http://www.powerfulrobot.com/games/obama/

In conclusion, a new era of video games and politics has begun. As the first candidate to utilize the newly introduced advertising world in video games, Barack Obama was able to pull off a decisive victory against his opponent, John McCain. A new “game” of politics has begun, and it can most surely be expected to intensify in upcoming elections.