I was recently involved in a morning show brainstorm, a search for timely bits and sticky content. Everything was moving along pretty well, until one of the group members (not the talent BTW) asked the question, “Is politics off the table?”
You know that one of the guiding rules is: “There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm.”
Well, the truth is, there are, and this was one of them. If you’re SNL, and you’re Maya Rudolph or Dana Carvey, it’s part of the expected schtick. But on a standard issue morning show in a middle-sized market, this entire line of thinking – sadly – is just not productive right about now. It takes incredible talent, skill, and timing to pull off politics, especially humor. The audience also has to be conditioned to not only accept this type of material from your show, but actually look forward to it like we do on shows like SNL or Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Everywhere else you’re playing with fire…and the audience is armed with blowtorches. With just thirtysomething days before Election Day, this is not a smart time to enter the political arena
especially if you haven’t been there before. For most members of your audience, there’s not a whole lot to laugh at. And the blowback is likely to come back with a vengeance.
Just ask Reed Hastings, Taylor Swift, and felines from all over the 50 states. To give you a survey of the political climate out there, a little research uncovered the notion there’s a heavy price to pay. And even if you’re rich, talented, famous, or cute, there’s no escape from the inevitable rancor from audiences everywhere.
So, here are three stories from the rocky and precarious political highway, cautionary tales that will make you wish you were doing “Second Date Update” or the “Crank Call of the Day.”
Netflix cancellations – I saw the story on Fox Business News, and the title says it all:
In the real world, the only realistic way you can incur this many cancellations this quickly is to suddenly take Emily In Paris out of rotation.
But that’s not how it happened. When co-CEO Reed Hastings went public with the news he’d contributed the tidy sum of $7 million to a Kamala Harris “super PAC,” that’s all it took for the other side to marshal its forces, calling for consumer cancellations of the world’s most popular streaming video platform.
The timing was anything but coincidental. Hastings revealed his donation on July 23rd. Three days later, Netflix paid the price with the single worst day ever for Netflix service cancellations.
Will Hastings’ dalliance into the political contribution arena continue to have ripple effects and impact the company’s next quarter financial report? We’ll know more later this month when Netflix issues its next statement on its economic well-being.
No, even a “Maya Rudolph Film Festival” can’t help Netflix now.
Tay Tay Nay Nay – What level of fame, fortune, and talent is enough to insulate a star from the nastiness and ravages of the political arena? We’re about to find out.
Just as Elon Musk’s heavy Trump support has cost his companies revenue and share, Taylor Swift’s very public endorsement of Kamala Harris following her debate with Donald Trump is being studied for damage control.
Here’s the headline that blared across the Internet, courtesy of NBC News:
Like the Netflix story there are “receipts” here that actually catalog Taylor Swift’s flagging fortunes. (Who knew she has poll numbers?)
By the way NBC News publishes its surveys in raw form, revealing its questionnaire and the accompanying results for each question asked. There are no crosstabs, but seeing the data this way is both surprising and satisfying. You can bone up about the current political crosswinds in what they call a document cloud. It’s here.
Worse than hanging out at Kansas City Chiefs’ games with Brittany Mahomes, Swift is feeling the vitriol from Republicans in this recently released NBC poll. And because Swift was riding high last November, the network’s pollsters tested her back then, too.
The new data shows nearly half (47%) of Republicans have a negative feeling about her in the new survey, nearly double those scores (26%) from last November. Ironically, she didn’t make up much of the difference by winning over fans of the Democratic party. Her numbers with the Dems moved up just five points – 53%-58% – since late last year.
Democratic poll pundit Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates summed up the Swiftian dilemma this way:
“A good lesson that it’s better to be a tortured poet than a tortured figure in the political arena.”
Perhaps Trump’s reverse endorsement on Truth Social had some stick:
Is it a career killer? Will Swift sell less merch over the next month or two? No and maybe yes.
And it does show just how volatile the lines between love, hate, and politics can be.
Speaking of cats – Between J.D. Vance going after “childless cat ladies,” immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, allegedly eating cats (and dogs), and Taylor Swift’s well-known love of her feline friends, you’d think the only winner of this political morass might be our nation’s cats.
But a recent story in TMZ reveals it’s more complicated than that.
In red states, animal shelters are reporting more people are “surrendering” their pets, while adoptions are on the downswing. Conversely, heavily Democratic strongholds are enjoying interest in cat adoptions.
So like everything else today, it’s running very much along party lines.
And if that isn’t proof positive of how Americans are voting with their wallets, their feet, and their kitty litter.
There’s no doubt tonight’s VP debate between Vance and his Democratic opponent, Tim Walz, will cover the controversial issue of felines in our midst.
And if you don’t like what you see, you can always push back:
Best reaction yet pic.twitter.com/2Y777hprQJ
— jonathan Slater (@slater_paul) September 13, 2024
So political discourse on your morning show or do you go with a tried and true bit and wait for this to blow over?
Let me think about it. I’ll get back to you.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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In the right places, yes.
Not the first time Taylor has had pushback from Republicans because of her politics. And she bounced back. Dems still shop at Walmart, despite their political donations.
But those are big players.
When I was part of a newbie morning team, uber consultant Dick Stadlin told my partner and I that you don’t win when you do political impersonations or impressions. (And our efforts were mild.) You’re likely to lose 50 percent of the audience – and a show that’s building traction cannot afford that.
I tell my students the same thing – stay away from politics and religion. You’re more likely to lose than win.
I’m not the least bit worried about Taylor this time around. And you got great advice early on in your career, Dianna.
I don’t do political topics on my show, because everything else is tainted by it in some form. It’s everywhere, and even worse in presidential election years.
People need an escape from that, and that’s what I aim for when I’m on the air.
Escape may be the leadinig audience emotion this year. Thanks, Don.
Fred, at the end of a busy week, I’ve finally had a moment to read what intrigued me on Tuesday. In a world where polarization has overtaken reason, your reply to Don Collet’s comment sums it up best.
“Escape may be the leadinig audience emotion this year.”
Thank you, Paul.