The 2016 election has already been an interesting one with 18 different candidates, not including the five who have already dropped out of the race, ranging from a first woman, senators, and governors to professors, doctors, and business executives. With just one short year left until Election Day, we will start to see a drastic increase in political advertising. Obviously each candidate has his or her own strategy, some more interesting than others, including a strategy we have never seen before in political advertising—rapping.
Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson already had a somewhat unconventional style—rightfully so since he is not a seasoned politician—but rapping is something we haven’t seen in a presidential election before. The Carson campaign is convinced that if Dr. Carson could receive at least 20 percent of the black vote, Hillary Clinton would not win if the two ran against each other in the general election. The goal of these radio ads is to awaken, appeal to, and motivate the urban market, especially young black voters, which is a non-traditional voting market for Republicans. Targeting this demographic is a change from Carson’s usual segmentation of Christians, young families, and women over 40. The new radio ads will run for two weeks in Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Birmingham, Memphis, Little Rock, Jackson, Mississippi, and Carson’s hometown, Detroit.
Now, living in Savannah, this is nothing new. We hear rap ads for a local lawyer almost daily and that strategy has seemed to work for that industry, but for a presidential election? Do you think this strategy will work? We’d love to hear from you!