Advertisers try but fail to convince youth

STEPHEN VIDER

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH Mayor John DeStefano: hip, with-it.

As the DeStefano techno-mobile may suggest, reaching a young audience is no easy task. Many young people, especially here, are suspicious of such clumsy attempts to target their key demographic group. MTV once made a business of it, and interest groups of all stripes are following suit. Now, even DeStefano can get in on the act, blending music with a message.

While I am not a registered Connecticut voter, I found the DeStefano techno-mobile insulting and misguided. Who exactly were they targeting? New Haven's youth? The Yale student body? The city at large? Did his campaign staff really think his political career would sound more impressive when backed by a swift dance beat?

Just as DeStefano attached his name to the Roots concert earlier this month, he seems to be reaching out again, however awkwardly, to a slightly foreign constituency. Juxtaposing a serious candidacy statement and with a generic techno song, DeStefano only emphasizes his distance from the city and the University's young voters. Imagine if Al Gore or George W. Bush, DC '68, had tried a similar stunt on his election tours. Would anyone really think they were in touch with America's youth?

But DeStefano isn't alone in such mediocre attempts to appeal to the MTV generation. We are often accused of having short attention spans, and a channel-surfing mentality that has required the media to get louder, busier, and more shocking. Log on to CNN's website and you'll see that CNN Headline News has "changed everything except [its] name," promising "real news, real fast" for all the "Time Warriors" among us.

I don't blame CNN for trying to change its image. I would rather people get a diluted form of CNN over most network news. Still, it's difficult not to feel that CNN is somehow lowering itself to "our level." This is precisely why DeStefano's techno-mobile fails, and why some students were distrustful when he teamed up with the Roots. Pandering to some imagined generational sensibility only insults both to his campaign and his targets.

The U.S. Army has also modified its advertising campaign for a new generation. Just 10 years ago, all their commercials needed were a few helicopters, some men in camouflage, and that "Be All That You Can Be" jingle. Now, the U.S. Marines has resorted to a "Dungeons and Dragons"- style battle scene. Fantasy has replaced anything remotely genuine about responsibility or teamwork. It's all about fringe benefits-leadership, education, self-esteem, not to mention the adrenaline rush of dragon-slaying.

How, then, should you advertise to a young audience? In an age of gross-out humor, shock value has proven popular, if not always successful. Case in point, the anti-drug and anti-smoking campaigns. A few years back, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America revised its original egg in a frying pan, "This is your brain on drugs" commercial. The recovering addict didn't simply fry the egg; she destroyed the entire kitchen. The new version may play up shock value, but it also makes a more compelling and convincing argument.

The new "brain on drugs" commercial also led the way for those morbid, if memorable, "Truth" ads with all the body bags on horses. Those, however, reveal the calculated risk of shock value, inspiring more laughter than serious contemplation.

In the end, beyond shock and beyond image, maybe the best way to advertise to the young is simply to remain true to your cause and your organization. Only MTV can get away with being MTV. At its best, MTV used its soapbox to speak out on various social issues like drugs, safe sex, and discrimination. MTV's more serious programming now seems precocious as the network turns more and more towards pop music.

For the simplest (and closest) example of truth in advertising, one need only look around the Yale campus. All those posters, banners, and chalk drawings lining the campus reveal the same thing—cleverness, enthusiasm, and simplicity are all you really need to get our attention. The Yale administration rarely tries to appear cool or young (and if it does, it walks a thin line). Anything more than that begins to look labored and insincere.

Everyone else is vying for our time and attention, working day and night to figure us out. They're trying so hard to come down to our level when all they really need to do is stand up tall and look us straight in the eye.

Back to Opinion...