The Importance Of Being Hot: The Paris Hilton Factor

August 21, 2008

It is a scary day when Paris Hilton can come off as more knowledgeable than one of the two major presidential candidates.
Over the past couple of weeks, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has released two campaign ads painting his Democratic rival Barack Obama as an opaque celebrity icon in the veins of Hilton or pop maven Britney Spears.

The first ad acknowledges Obama's runaway popularity, particularly among young voters, aligning it with Hilton and Spears with visual comparisons and questions about Obama's readiness to lead.

The second, released this week, mockingly invites people to join Obama's fan club, showing clips of everyday citizens gushing about the candidate's less political qualities, with one man stating, “hot chicks dig Obama!”

For her part, Hilton participated in a mock campaign spot for FunnyorDie.com in which she jokingly declares her intention to make a run for the Oval Office. The spot begins with a send up of McCain's first “celebrity” ad, this time pointing the finger at McCain for being “like super-old” and showing images of the Golden Girls and Yoda. Hilton then goes on to say, “I'm not from the olden days, and I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot.”

Whatever Hilton's problems have been in the past, she is, indeed, undeniably “hot” in the video, and the humor is even more potent by the relatively solid energy plan she spouts off to support her supposed campaign, which borrows from the better parts of both Obama's and McCain's.

Even Spears is looking pretty good these days, with a funny and clever promo spot with comedian Russell Brand running ahead of the upcoming MTV Music Video Awards, as well as a cover and refreshingly down-to-earth interview in an upcoming edition of OK! Magazine.

The McCain campaign's attempt to lambaste Obama's celebrity status garnered praise from former Hillary Clinton advisor Mark Penn, who said to Politico.com, "Clever negative advertising works. That is reality." But McCain's ads may not be considered “negative” in the way his campaign intended, and could easily backfire come November.

Hilton's ad is funny, as most truly humorous things are, because it is based on truth. A common concern about McCain is his age; at 71, he would be one of the oldest Presidents in history, and the fact has not been lost on satirists long before FunnyOrDie.com threw its hat into the ring.

After the recent New Yorker magazine cover satirizing right-wing portraits of Obama and his wife Michelle as black-power, anti-American Muslim terrorists, Vanity Fair issued a mock companion cover portraying John McCain as a feeble old man with a walker and his wife Cindy McCain as a pill-popping Barbie doll.

The common visuals involving Obama are summarized in a Los Angeles poster campaign featuring Obama's beatific visage above large words like “Change” and “Hope,” tying in with his campaign's common call for “Change we can believe in.”

It is unclear exactly who the McCain camp intends to sway with this recent spate of “negative campaigning.” Most likely he is trying to convince swing voters of middle to old age that he, and not his opponent, is a more solid choice and not simply a flash in the pan brought to the political forefront by good looks and swelling speeches but little to no substance.

And, as George W. Bush proved in his reelection campaign in 2004, those swing voters can make a world of difference.

But this isn't 2004, and McCain's camp may be shooting itself in the foot by ignoring the fastest-growing voting block on the scene today: Youth (voters aged 18-29).

According to Youth Vote advocacy groups such as CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), the national youth voting turnout has more than doubled over the last eight years. Young voter turnout has continued to increase over the last three major national elections for the first time since the voting age dropped to 18 in 1971. More than 6.5 million voters under 30 participated in this year's primaries and caucuses alone, and in some states youth turnout has increased by double digit margins since the midterm elections in 2006, and the vast majority of younger voters are voting Democratic.

Many political theorists point to the growing impact of the internet in this upsurge of youth turnout, while others point to the effectiveness of face-to-face campaigning that makes high school and college campuses hot spots for rejuvenated political advocacy.

In a cover story on “The Youth Vote” in January, Time Magazine pointed to Obama's success in the Iowa caucuses and the noticeable effects of “dorm-storming” and other such techniques, where voters were “hearing about Obama from someone they already know.”

It is no secret that younger people in particular, especially in this age of media recognition and visual popularization, are swayed by the notions of celebrity and, dare we say, “hotness.”

Even back in 2004, superstars like Missy Elliot and Justin Timberlake took to the airwaves to “Rock the Vote,” encouraging young voters to make their voices heard and bring about a new generation of politicking. While the ultimate result of that presidential election may have fallen to the Republicans, the overwhelming comeback of Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections and Obama's resounding popularity today are lasting effects of that and many other “Get Out the Vote” campaigns targeting young voters who may never have voted before.

The latest McCain ad intends to paint Obama in a negative light by frowning on the reasons his supporters jump on the Democratic train this time around, but what it really does is motivate humor sites like FunnyOrDie.com or celebutantes like Paris Hilton to affirm that, in fact, popularity and “hotness” do matter in this election and will continue to do so in years to come.

Fortunately, Obama has and will continue to stand up to criticism because his policies and his governing method do speak to a growing and, dare we hope, a majority of voters that will hopefully make their voices heard in November.

At the end of her hilarious and hard-hitting mock ad, Hilton states, “I'm Paris Hilton, and I approve this message, because I think it's totally hot.”

It is hot, but as Martha Stewart might say, “It's a good thing.”

From-http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?id=19971&section=66