The presidential election is getting a bit more interactive with the launch of Obama for America’s “For All” campaign.
In a conference call on Thursday, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign announced its new campaign, “For All,” which asks supporters to participate in a three-step process. Participants write on their hand what four years of progress means to them, take of picture with that hand over their heart, and finally, the picture is posted to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. The call also featured special guests Jared Leto, an actor and musician, and Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
“’For All’ is a visual representation of what is important to you, what this election means to you and the issues that you care about,” Wicks said.
This goal of the new initiative is to reach out to 18 to 29 year olds on various social media platforms, so the content is interactive and relevant. Both Leto and Wicks said the young demographic is key to winning the election, which is why “For All” is so important.
“It’s really up to you (young Americans) to guard the change in 2012,” Leto said.
Leto and Wicks said the campaign is focusing on common values, promoting the idea that regardless of race, sexual orientation and background, Americans are stronger united than divided.
The two added that the idea behind the slogan is to emphasize that Obama’s campaign is for everyone, not just some Americans, which they said is in contrast to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign.
“Mitt Romney dismisses half of America, saying it is not his job to care about them, even though that half includes many college students, service members, seniors and disabled Americans,” Wick said. “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would roll back the clock on so much of the progress.”
Joshua Pasek, assistant professor of communication studies, said he thinks the initiative could be a response to the Romney’s comment about the 47 percent — in which Romney suggested that nearly half of Americans consider themselves victims and entitled to government handouts— will inevitably vote for Obama, and are therefore not a relevant demographic for Romney.
“My impression of it was that it started after Romney made his comment … if that is indeed the case, then it is Obama’s response saying: I’m running for everybody, not just for the people I think are going to vote for me,” Pasek said.