Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

“Choose or Lose” had been an MTV election year staple since 1992 — I think they even still showed music videos back then. The supposed point of the campaign was to convince young, most likely left-leaning people who for some reason actually cared what Madonna and Kanye West thought to become involved, motivated and go to the polls en masse. In 2008, that’s exactly what happened, but somehow it wasn’t enough. The slogan that helped usher in the era of “Change” is being changed.

From the New York Times:

After nearly 20 years of “Choose or Lose,” MTV is changing the name of its election season campaign.

The youth cable channel’s coverage will be labeled “Power of 12,” a nod to both the election year and the notion that 18- to 29-year-olds have a lot of political power if they choose to wield it.

The name change is, in part, a statement about the cynical mood of the youth voting bloc. While young people turned out in unusually high numbers to support Barack Obama in 2008, MTV’s research into “Choose or Lose” found that many felt they had lost anyway.

“They were so passionate,” said Stephen K. Friedman, the president of MTV. “And then they hit this wall of the economy.”

The “Power” campaign, to be announced on Monday, implies that choosing is not all that matters. “Voting is one step in the process — just one step,” Mr. Friedman said. “The question for this generation is, they’ve got this power, will they exert it?”

Maybe the new campaign should take more of an introspective tone: “Be careful what you ask for and even more careful what you fall for.”

(h/t Weasel Zippers)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe