Help with Political Demographics

Submitted by platypus matt on December 5, 2006 - 10:41.

Drat. I've been Googling with MSN Search all morning and just can't find what I'm looking for, so I'm hoping someone here will lend a hand. I'm having my students do rhetorical analyses of political TV commercials, and one of the aspects of the assignment is to detect the target audience of the ad. Unfortunately, most students seem to be taking the easy way out by claiming that every ad is targeted at "swing voters" or even "Americans." Well, duh, there's no need for an ad that doesn't. However, I've heard terms like "security mom," "Religious Right," and so on used in the media to describe more specific political demographics. I'm pretty sure that the people who make these ads ascribe assume these blocs exist and pander to them in specific ads, but I'll be darned if I can find a website that analyzes these terms in a way that might be useful for my students.

Is there a site somewhere that breaks down all of these target demographics for political ads? If so, please let me know. The assignment is due next week. Even a more general site or article about determining the audience of a work might be helpful.

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Target market identification

Submitted by glmaranto on December 5, 2006 - 18:28.

Hey Matt, try searching for "target market identification," "market segmentation," "audience identification." As I've been exposed to the practice, marketers use a range of factors to identify target groups, and then assign them names, like "Nascar Dads." Check out, for example, http://ezinearticles.com/?Marketing-Strategy:-7-Steps-to-Market-Segmentation&id=82831

savvy voter at pbs

Submitted by bleckb on December 5, 2006 - 23:35.

I'm not even going to guess at the links, but will look them up for you, but only because I don't think they have what you are looking for, though it's still a good site for this sort of assignment. I use it! (That's a ringing endorsement, right? Right? Matt?)

http://www.pbs.org/elections/savvydissect.html

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov1996/takingonthekennedys/dissect.html

bradley || bleckblog.org

platypus matt's picture

thanks

Submitted by platypus matt on December 6, 2006 - 11:31.

Thanks for the links, Gina and Bradley. I've passed them on to my students.

Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.

Platymorphosis?

Submitted by glmaranto on December 6, 2006 - 12:01.

Maynard G. Krebs, what did you do with Plat Matt?

Help with Political Demographics

Submitted by Patty Hornbeck on December 15, 2006 - 16:29.

 The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004 has a lot of related info on issues, types of ads and demographics. See  http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/index.php at the American Museum of the Moving Image.

This may not be at all what you're looking for, but just in case...

Patty Hornbeck Media Resources Development Coordinator Middlebury College Library 110 Storrs Ave. / M212 Middlebury, VT 05753 (802)443-2268 ph. (802)443-5698 fax hornbeck@middlebury.edu

LR candidate

Submitted by glmaranto on December 15, 2006 - 22:46.

Patty: excellent suggestion, but Platypus Matt, no matter what retrograde avatar he may choose, is often ahead of the curve. So he has already posted on LivingRoom candidate:

http://kairosnews.org/the-livingroom-candidate-copyright-compa

platypus matt's picture

Retrogade Avatar???

Submitted by platypus matt on December 16, 2006 - 02:01.

Maybe I should just take my radioactive Twinkies and return to Ork??

Anyway, it's too late now. I've got 40+ essays here, and I'm pretty sure I'll be reading the line, "The target audience of this ad is clearly swing voters" about that many times. Sigh.

Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.