MTV is back to targeting the youth vote, again with an agenda of liberal issues. The network released a web series known as The Racket, which went beyond overall participation to highlight specific causes. Now, there’s Elect This, as Deadline reported.
According to a national MTV student poll, 92 percent of millennials agree that “this election is like a bad reality show,” something MTV is now known for. And 93 percent believe “this election should be about issues.” While the web series touches upon issues, it’s those that MTV chooses.
MTV also told Deadline that its content will highlight the “truth behind the talking points,” and will drive young voters to inform themselves. In that case, hopefully young voters can inform themselves beyond what MTV has to say about liberal issues.
The network released several videos on YouTube, including one involving a loud chant of “Elect What? Elect This.”
Others featured celebrities electing “equality,” equal pay, gun control, education, speaking out against “police brutality” and “mass incarceration.” There were also sentiments expressed about love, understanding, diversity, as well as electing “peace, and pizza,” “electing the best singer,” and “someone without bad hair,” which raises questions about if “this election should be about issues.”
As part of Elect This, there’s also “Infographica,” which features (uncited) polls of millennials supporting “renewable energy by 2030,” “background checks,” “outlaw[ing] anti-LGBT discrimination,” “support[ing] a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” “and a ton of other things.”
Another part is the “Robo Roundtable,” a panel discussion from a teddy bear, robot, stuffed parrot, and an alligator discussing gun control. What the panelists say is provided by Twitter users.
The Elect This website includes a “Spend This,” section, explaining that “A lot of money has been spent on this presidential campaign,” and wonders “What if we spent it on burritos, Beyoncé tickets, or birth control instead?”
MTV told Deadline that the project is supported by organizations “focused on those issues most important to millennials.”
These groups include:
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Anti-Defamation League
- Define American
- Enroll America
- Everytown for Gun Safety
- FWD.us
- GLAAD
- NAACP
- National Partnership for Women and Families
- NextGen Climate
- Oxfam America
- Planned Parenthood
- RAINN
- Rock the Vote
- Truman National Security Project
- Young Invincibles
Most of the groups advocate for liberal agendas and policies, suggesting that these are the issues MTV considers “most important to millennials.”
