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Hillary Clinton's Attempt to Use Entertainment to Attract Voters

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Hillary Clinton's Attempt to Use Entertainment to Attract Voters

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Soon before the 2016 United States Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton said at a rally, "I don't know who created Pokémon Go, but I'm trying to figure out how we get them to have 'Pokemon-Go-to the polls.'" Many young voters found this quote out of touch and forced. This remark did not, in fact, encourage voters to go the polls, and made Hillary Clinton seem more detached from the younger generations. The impact was found in the lack of turnout for democratic voters, causing Donald Trump to win the presidency. While this comment was likely not the only contributor to the low voter turnout, it did not encourage people to show up at the polls in the 2016 election.

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TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally

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TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally

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Trump's campaign promised huge crowds at his rally, failed to deliver .

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The truth behind fake news on social media

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The truth behind fake news on social media

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Misinformation is spread on social media. As people become more reliant on social media there is a concern about misinformation. This can influence people's political choices and change people's opinions. Sometimes people think they are getting the information they need to be informed and they are being fed lies.

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The truth behind fake news on social media

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The truth behind fake news on social media

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Fake news, hate speech and misinformation is creeping through all social media platforms. With more and more people relying on social media for as a source for news, there are worries that such content could influence audiences unable to distinguish truth from fact or news from propaganda.

This "infodemic," as Dustin Carnahan calls it, puts misleading information front and center -adding fuel to politically contentious fires and escalating social issues to the level of crises.

Carnahan, an assistant professor of communications at Michigan State University's College of Communication Arts and Sciences, shares his thoughts on what could happen if President Trump continues his controversial Twitter dialogue and how misinformation could impact the 2020 election.
Content and dialogue on social media have taken major turns in recent years. What has caused this?
"We're reaching a critical point regarding what role social media should play in society as these platforms - and how we use them - have evolved. Instead of being places where people stay connected and share the details of their lives, they're increasingly being used as sources of information. A recent Pew survey found nearly six in 10 people regularly use social media for news and while it's not their only news outlet, it's an important one. As a result, the quality of information people receive from social media is becoming a bigger question.

"On this question, you're starting to see a divergence among platforms as to how they see their proper place in society and democracy. Twitter has become increasingly more likely to regulate content like political ads and questionable tweets, whereas Facebook has resisted similar measures - even to the dismay of some of their own employees in recent days. This is pretty exceptional because it represents a possible break in the values and philosophies of Silicon Valley.

"The real question that arises is what comes next? Social media platforms have come to take up so much of our lives that the decisions these platforms make now could have significant ramifications for the shape of the information environment and how we understand and engage with our worlds."
President Trump recently received tremendous backlash over the spread of misinformation and racist comments on Twitter. Can he get kicked off the platform?
"Technically speaking, Twitter could make the case to remove President Trump if they deem that he violated the terms of its user agreement - which includes clauses on 'abusive behavior' or 'targeted harassment.'

"Outside of these clauses, there is no explicit mention of removing users due to posts that spread misinformation. This is likely why President Trump's tweet that included unfounded allegations about voter fraud involving mail-in ballots was allowed to remain, though with the caveat that a link to additional information was posted alongside the tweet. However, cases could be made that other tweets - such as those that stoke tensions during the recent nationwide protests for racial equality or spread conspiracies about the death of a former congressional aide - might violate these terms.

"But even if determined to be violations, it would be highly unlikely that Twitter would take the drastic action of suspending or removing President Trump's account. Doing so would set off a firestorm of criticism from the political right, who already accuse social media of either censoring or reducing the visibility of conservative viewpoints. Further, removal of President Trump from Twitter would likely bring about a series of legal challenges and congressional hearings that these platforms wouldn't want to deal with."
Where is the line drawn on social media when it comes to hate speech versus First Amendment rights?
"When it comes to the First Amendment, people often forget that freedom of speech refers to government restrictions on speech and does not apply to private entities such as companies. As social media companies are not government institutions, they are able to control their content as they see appropriate.

"However, when considering whether speech should be restricted on social media, there are different philosophical arguments about free speech and the public interest that are often invoked. One view draws from the 'marketplace of ideas' argument - itself the impetus for the First Amendment - in arguing that the public interest is best served when all content is visible on social media, no matter how inaccurate, hateful or vile. This position holds that while people can judge content and hold speakers accountable themselves, bad ideas will be shown for what they are, disregarded via discussion and more productive conversations will result.

"But another view holds that allowing such content on social media harms the public interest, arguing that the marketplace might not be working on social media as well as we thought. Misinformation can plague public discourse and decision-making, make it more difficult for people to find common ground and even serve as a threat to public health. Further, hateful content is being used by fringe groups to grow their ranks and increase their organization, as evident of the re-emergence of white supremacists and other radical movements.

"Until recently, social media platforms have taken a more hands-off approach consistent with the former view and generally reflective of Silicon Valley culture as well. But they are becoming increasingly aware of the latter - which I think is why you see stronger actions taken against misinformation and hateful and abusive language. How far they will go in these restrictions moving forward will be interesting to watch. Twitter's recent measures suggest that platforms might be willing to pursue stricter restrictions, though I think they will continue to take a cautious, gradual approach."
How could all of the controversy now affect the presidential election?
"We're about to see something that we've never seen before. The impacts of COVID-19 are going to be profound, though who benefits and how remains to be seen.

"One thing we know is President Trump is willing to leverage COVID-19 for political purposes. Supporting movements in states like Michigan to relax restrictions, attacking Vice President Biden on his decision to wear a mask and threatening to remove the Republican National Convention from North Carolina all illustrate this strategy.

"While it's easy to be critical of such a strategy, I'm not sure President Trump has a choice if he wants to survive politically. The strongest argument for his re-election until March was the state of the economy, which has collapsed in the past two months. Framing outcomes from the pandemic as victories and deflecting blame to others all serve to advance the narrative that he successfully minimized the damage of a crisis that was not of his own doing. His campaign is banking on this - along with promises of a swift economic recovery - as his pathway to re-election.

"COVID-19 has also impacted Biden's ability to get his message out; any attempt by his campaign to make the news is often completely overwhelmed by COVID-19 and Trump's actions. The fact that Biden is an established candidate the public knows quite well - especially relative to some of his primary opponents - certainly mitigates this disadvantage, but the news cycle is not doing him any favors. His inability to travel as freely as traditionally seen in presidential campaigns further restricts his ability to drive the message, not to mention fundraise.

"We're going to see some settling in as we enter the late-summer months, and we'll have a much better feel for how this race will unfold by then. Anyone who thinks they can predict the future right now would be kidding themselves. This will be an election like no other."

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The truth behind fake news and politics on social media

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Fake news, hate speech and misinformation is creeping through all social media platforms. With more and more people relying on social media for as a source for news, there are worries that such content could influence audiences unable to distinguish truth from fact or news from propaganda.

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TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally

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TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally

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TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally (Published 2020)

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Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.?

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2020 Election: Popular Brands are marketing voting

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2020 Election: Popular Brands are marketing voting

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Advertising is a great example of pop culture. This article examines how this has impacted politics

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Brands' pivot to registering voters has made similarly strange bedfellows of some companies and their new messages. Facebook, a company whose platform is a limitless abyss of antidemocratic disinformation, is asking its users to do their duty to democracy before fully addressing the ways in which the company's products have eroded it, both in America and abroad. (Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.)
Read: Brands have nothing real to say about racism
Now, in the face of a contentious election that's just five weeks away, new companies join the chorus seemingly every day. No matter what they sell or how they sell it, they all seem to be comfortable marketing themselves as advocates of democracy and civic engagement, so long as their customers are willing to do the heavy lifting. Having the right to vote become fodder for corporate marketing is bleak enough. What's worse is the reminder that even at a time when millions of people are fearful for their future and unsure of their safety, companies will nonetheless find a way to profit.

Getting out the vote in America is really, really hard, and no matter who sends the emails, they can do only so much to move the dial. Relatively few people vote in America, because exercising the right can be onerous and confusing. In the 2016 presidential election, a little less than 56 percent of voting-age Americans cast a vote, a rate that lags behind that of recent national elections in Germany, Mexico, South Korea, and most developed countries. The proportion of nonvoters is even higher among young people, poor people, the working class, and immigrants.

Tactics to encourage voting take many different forms, with varying levels of efficacy. Christopher Mann, a political scientist at Skidmore College who studies voting and elections, says that there is a reliable hierarchy of maneuvers to mobilize voters: The most effective is face-to-face canvassing, followed by personal phone calls. These are things that, by their very nature, brands are unlikely to engage in, because of the resources and manpower necessary to pull them off. Getting out the vote via email, as most of these brands have elected to do, isn't totally ineffective, but its impact is far smaller.

Mann says he's not aware of any research on how effective it might be for consumer brands to send out voting information in emails or pop-up notifications. But based on how things go when political organizations use the same tactics, he'd expect it to have a marginally positive effect if done consistently and with links to resources-maybe a 1 to 2 percent bump in registrations among people who receive the information, and a quarter of a percent increase in actual votes.

But in order to achieve even this level of effectiveness, companies would ideally be targeting people who are poorly served by more traditional voter outreach-poor and working-class people who don't feel included and generally don't participate in American politics. For many of the brands most vocal about voting, those people simply aren't their customers. "There's some perverse incentives here," Mann told me. "The brands for whom there's the most payoff for being a good citizen in this regard may have the least impact" on actually registering or motivating voters. That's because brands that think that these kinds of messages will be beneficial to their image are likely targeting a pool of people who are already well acquainted with the electoral process-people wealthier, whiter, and more formally educated than the population at large. Facebook, a free service with more than 200 million American users, is better positioned to do real good than Sweetgreen, which sells $13 salads.

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limitless abyss of antidemocratic disinformation

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Brands' pivot to registering voters has made similarly strange bedfellows of some companies and their new messages. Facebook, a company whose platform is a limitless abyss of antidemocratic disinformation, is asking its users to do their duty to democracy before fully addressing the ways in which the company's products have eroded it, both in America and abroad.

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2020 Election: Popular Brands are marketing voting

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2020 Election: Popular Brands are marketing voting

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"A year-long 2018 campaign by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, for example, ended with 88 percent of its employees voting, more than 30 percentage points higher than the nationwide voting rate." - The Atlantic. Popular brands such as Uber and Nike have been using marketing in order to push the right to vote among workers and consumers of their brand. When these companies take action beyond simply encouraging voting within the company, success is found. 2020 has brought in the highest number of voters America has ever seen. However, these advertisements seem to bring nothing more than awareness about the issue of a lack of voters within America, rather than getting people physically to the polls when the only action taken is when they make some stickers about it.

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Story by Andra Brichacek. Video by Ryan Lund and Aaron Nelson. Photos by Schaeffer Bonner and Karly DeWees.

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Picture and even just the mention of people can influence the election. When pictures tied to political figures their name gets out there and will continue to spread. This alone will increase votes. If nobody knows who you are you won't get votes.

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This shows how social media influences now. If it continues the current trend social media's influence will be even larger in the future.

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How Brands have been pushing the right to vote:

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How Brands have been pushing the right to vote:

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Nike Purpose: Every Voice Matters: Prepare to Vote This November

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In 2016, nearly 100 million eligible voters in the United States did not vote. That is enough people to fill about 1,000 stadiums. Nike has created a 2020 Voting Guide to help ensure all eligible voters make their voice heard this election with the tools, resources, and programming to help everyone register, vote and inspire their community to take action.

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Leer en español: Cómo las redes sociales impactan las opiniones políticas

Social media platforms have recently facilitated the organization of protests around racism across the country and even prompted teenagers and K-Pop fans to register for a Trump rally in June with no intention of attending.

But social media use affects young users' political views and involvement in other ways like exposing users to certain views or determining their understanding of current events.
Different viewpoints or echo chambers?
According to a report from the Pew Research Center, the majority of surveyed teens said they felt social media exposed them to people with different backgrounds and views and helped them show support for causes and issues important to them.

For BYU students, the results of the report mirror their thoughts on how social media platforms influence their political views.

In an informal Instagram poll on The Daily Universe's account, 89% of the 273 respondents said they believe social media has affected their political views and involvement. When asked for specifics, the majority of commenters said social media has exposed them to different viewpoints and a few said social media can create echo chambers.

BYU student Abby Bjorkman said social media has helped her see views beyond her own community, which is predominantly white. "Especially with the Black Lives Matter movement, I have been able to educate myself on others' experiences in America besides my own, which is the perspective of a white female."

While Bjorkman acknowledged it can be easy to fall into an echo chamber and only see posts from those with similar views, she feels she has followed a wide enough variety of people to hear opposing opinions.

"Some users can feel extreme on both sides and can almost be intimidating, but it is up to the user to manipulate how much they want to see," Bjorkman said.

BYU public relations professor Pamela Brubaker said social media users sometimes only interact with content that reflects their own views, which then leads to the apps suggesting other similar content.

"News and information are pushed to us based upon the content we engage with and the people we engage with online," Brubaker said. "As a result, if your friends are more politically active on Facebook or Instagram, you are more likely to have higher levels of exposure to political content."
Social media as a primary news source
Another recent Pew Research Center study shows that people who turn to social media to stay up to date about current events generally pay less attention to and are less knowledgeable about the news and politics. The study found that 48% of young adults age 18-29 fall into this category and primarily get their news from social media.

The study used data from five different surveys conducted from October 2019 to June 2020. During this time major news and political events like the impeachment and the outbreak of the coronavirus occurred. Researchers asked respondents questions to measure their understanding of these events.

The results show that 57% of people who rely on social media for news had low political knowledge and only 17% had high political knowledge. The only group with a larger percentage of low political knowledge was individuals who get their news from local TV stations.

According to the study, those who primarily get news from social media are "more likely than other Americans to have heard about a number of false or unproven claims."

Brubaker said the increased reliance on social media could stimulate more political discussions both online and offline, but it also might limit the political views and information users are exposed to. "To stay politically informed, it's important to expand our sources. We should rely on more than the news that's pushed to us. We should also actively seek to be informed."

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How social media impacts political views - The Daily Universe

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Studies show that teens feel like social media helps them see other view points, while people who primarily get news from social media tend to be less knowledgeable about current events.

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How Brands have been pushing the right to vote:

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How Brands have been pushing the right to vote:

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Nike has a page on their website under the "purpose" tab that talks about the importance of voting. They seem to be trying to attach the virtue of voting to their brand. "In alignment with Nike’s efforts to increase voter participation and minimize barriers to voting, the company has partnered with transportation networking company Lyft to support early voting and access to discounted rides* in communities who have historically had a harder time getting to the polls, as well as supporting voters in Nike World Headquarters’ backyard."

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With polling day right around the corner, The Drum takes a look at the best get-out-the-vote campaigns created by brands this election year.
In an election year bolstered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the subsequent economic recession, and the ongoing fight against racial injustice - brands are taking it upon themselves to use their influence to get the US voting on 3 November.

Past election statistics have shown that many Americans don't make use of their vote, particularly the younger generations. In the 2016 presidential elections, less than half of 18-29 year olds didn't vote.

Joining forces from across the sectors, brands in the technology, retail and entertainment realms are hoping to encourage eligible voters to make their voices heard in the upcoming US midterm elections.

Strategies vary from brands creating everything from voting merchandise, to campaigns encouraging the general public to go out and vote. Some brands are also paying their own employees to work at the polls, while others are giving them time off to go and cast their vote.

Featured below are some of the highlights from the campaigns encouraging voters to use their voice in the upcoming election.

Nike: 'You Can't Stop Our Voice'

Nike's campaign emphasises that sport gives you a platform to express yourself.

Featuring athletes like LeBron James, Naomi Osaka, Odell Beckham Jr, Sue Bird, Ja Morant, A'Ja Wilson, and Tim Anderson, who are leading by example, the campaign asserts that you don't have to be a star to have a voice.

In alignment with Nike's efforts to increase voter participation and minimize barriers to voting, the company has also partnered with transportation networking company Lyft to support early voting and access to discounted rides in communities who have historically had a harder time getting to the polls, as well as supporting voters in Nike World Headquarters' backyard.

Johnnie Walker: 'You'll Never Walk Alone'

Through trials and triumphs, Johnnie Walker has been there to mark these moments with the possibility of hope and the shared optimism of brighter days.

The latest election ad from the brand features Brittany Howard, best known as lead singer for rock band Alabama Shakes, performing a remake of You'll Never Walk Alone from the 1945 musical, Carousel.

The spot is by Anomaly New York, which was also behind Johnnie Walker's 2016 election spot, which included both an English and Spanish voiceover of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land.

Babe Wine: 'Election Night Survival Kit'

Babe Wine released an 'Election Night Survival Kit' to make the wait a little more comfortable ahead of the US presidential elections.

As part of the kit, Babe curated a box of items for you to use while you watch the results unfold including a ball to squeeze so you don't go off on Twitter, tissues in case you decide to shed a tear for dramatic effect, a pillow to give your TV a break from being yelled at, a bottle of Babe's 'Polls Closing. Bottles Opening' red wine to celebrate casting your ballot and a four-pack of Babe Rosé for your election night watch part.

The Economist: 'Word Play'

​The​ ​Economist launched a new digital marketing initiative, 'Word Play' designed to drive audiences to the high-quality journalism they can expect from​ The Economist's​ coverage of the US 2020 elections.

A departure from The Economist​ traditional 'white out of red' creative, this campaign instead leverages the secondary colour palette with striking blues. Each creative makes use of kangaroo words found within ​The Economist​ name to boldly alert audiences to what they can expect (evidence-based, refreshingly fair) and cannot expect (no hype, no clickbait) from The Economist​.

RepresentUs: 'Naked Ballot'

Some of the world's biggest celebrities appeared naked in an ad to bring attention to laws that require voters in 16 states, including the important swing state of Pennsylvania, to insert their mail-in ballot into two separate envelopes in order to be counted.

If the ballot is not inserted properly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the ballot is considered 'naked,' and rejected. This 'naked ballot rule' risks the rejection of hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes, which could significantly impact US election results.

The ad's goal is to clarify the necessary steps voters who are mailing in their ballots must take to make sure they are accepted by their state's board of election and counted.

Wake Up & Vote: 'Make History Here'

With in-person voting options reduced by Covid-19, a non-partisan campaign informs public that nearly 70 stadiums and arenas across the country have opened their doors for safe, socially-distanced voting

This year, thanks to legendary basketball coach Doc Rivers, LeBron James, and organizations around the country, nearly 70 stadiums and arenas are opening their doors to voters as huge, safe, in-person polling sites.

Election Super Centers Project's partnered with Julie Hermelin and Mary Ann Marino, founders of the Wake Up and Vote: Creative Consortium, a non-profit organization that mobilizes creators across advertising, entertainment, gaming, and design to create and produce social impact and civic engagement content and campaigns. In a tight window, Hermelin and Marino (also partners at Gutsy Media) assembled a powerful creative team including Serge Patzak of 1stAveMachine, Cedric Gairard of Oatly, and Jordan Stone of Snapchat to execute the 360 national marketing strategy, Make History Here.

AHA: 'The Ballot Bunch'

Our democracy is stronger when everyone participates, but this year, that's going to be tougher than usual.

As the entire country tries to figure out what Election Day will look like during the pandemic, new rules for absentee voting and conflicting headlines about the trustworthiness of mail-in voting are adding to the confusion.

The Ballot Bunch is here to make voting in the 2020 election a little easier.

Patagonia: 'Vote the Assholes Out'

Known for its strong stance on environmentalism, outdoor brand Patagonia has included a special message on the labels of its recent range of shorts.

'Vote the Assholes Out' was confirmed by Patagonia spokesperson on Twitter as a legitimate campaign in line with the brand's historic political and environmental activism.

Patagonia's founder, Yvon Chouinard, has been talking about voting the assholes out for several years and by "assholes," he means "politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis and ignore science."

"Remember, vote the assholes out - all of those politicians who don't believe we should do anything about climate change," wrote Chouinard in a blog post for the 1% for the Planet community at the start of the pandemic. "Vote for the planet and against those who would do nothing. We have the power and now is the time to use it."

Three years ago, Patagonia also sued the Trump administration for its decision to shrink the size, by roughly two million acres, of two national monuments in Utah.

Absolut: '#VoteResponsibly'

In other brand news, Pernod Ricard USA have announced that all employees will receive paid time off on Tuesday 3 November to vote in the upcoming election.

In an effort to ensure all voices from America's spirits industry are heard at the polls, chair and chief executive officer of Pernod Ricard North America, Ann Mukherjee, will also call upon industry leaders and peers to do the same for their employees.

In addition to time off, Pernod Ricard's flagship premium vodka brand, Absolut, is launching a non-partisan, integrated 'Drink Responsibly. #VoteResponsibly' campaign which delivers the message: 'Vote First, Drink Second.'

Under Armour: 'Run to Vote'

Another brand that is encouraging its employees as well as its customers to participate in the vote, is exercise brand Under Armour.

'Run To Vote,' a first-ever program for the company with the goal of increasing voter turnout and removing barriers that can keep people from making an impact in democracy.

At the helm of this first-time initiative is Under Armour president and chef executive Patrik Frisk. This election marks the first time he has voted in the US since becoming a citizen - his experience navigating the political system here prompted him to leverage the company he leads and what it stands for to make voting easier for everyone.

'Vote Like A Madre'

Hoping to represent the Latinx voting demographic, Latina mothers are taking over social media pinky promising their kids they'll '#votelikeamadre' on 3 November to fight climate change.

In a campaign spearheaded by some of the most recognizable Latina moms from across music, television, film, and business, including Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek, Zoe Saldana, Jessica Alba, Jordana Brewster, Joy Huerta, and Desi Perkins, '#VoteLikeAMadre' urges moms to fight for their kid's future by electing leaders with aggressive plans to fight climate change.

HBO: 'Rock the Vote'

Further celebrity endorsement comes from HBO Max and Rock the Vote, which are kicking off a new partnership that encourages voters to highlight the issues that have most affected their daily lives, families and communities.

The PSA features artists and actors including Spike Lee, Natasha Rothwell, Robin Thede, Samantha Bee and more representing issues like equality, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive justice, and climate change.

Ad Council: 'Vote For Your Life'

ViacomCBS, in partnership with the Ad Council, launched 'Vote For Your Life', a mass voter registration, early voting, and get-out-the-vote campaign crafted to respond to the specific challenges of the upcoming 2020 election season.

Voter registration is down by as much as 70% in some states, largely affecting millennials and Gen Z voters aged 18-30. Adding to this registration crisis, the pandemic is making it even more critical for all voters to learn about and take advantage of their options to vote early or absentee.

Reddit: 'Up the Vote'

This campaign marks Reddit's first-ever brand marketing campaign and falls under its wider voter engagement initiative, 'Up The Vote.' The creative draws parallels between engagement with content on Reddit and participation in real-life elections.

A bedrock of the platform experience, Reddit users cast more than 165 million votes on the site every day to help determine the content most celebrated and what falls to the bottom of the feed.

The new campaign urges Reddit's 130,000+ active communities and the population at large to bring this same passion to voting in real life, and unite around a shared effort to shape our futures.

RepresentUS: 'Dictators'

Marking the first time deepfake technology has been used for a major US TV broadcast in the political space, anti-corruption not-for-profit RepresentUs and Mischief @ No Fixed Address have issued a sinister warning to America to stress the urgency of protecting its nation's democracy ahead of November's US presidential elections.

As part of the 'Dictators' campaign, RepresentUs is releasing a series of deepfake ads featuring North Korea's Kim Jong-Un and Russia President Vladimir Putin who deliver a harrowing reminder of how easily the republic can collapse.

A social media campaign will be supported by influencers including Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Helms, Alyssa Milano and Kathy Griffin.

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The best campaigns encouraging US voters to head to the polls

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With polling day right around the corner, The Drum takes a look at the best get-out-the-vote campaigns created by brands this election year. In an election year bolstered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the subsequent economic recession, and the ongoing fight against racial injustice - brands are taking it upon themselves to use their influence to get the US voting on 3 November.

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Nike gathered popular athletes such as LeBron James, Naomi Scott, Odell Beckham Jr., and Tim Anderson in order to put together an ad campaign that shows that people have a voice within their country. Patagonia has also attached a message in the tag of its shorts line: "Vote the ***holes out." The Founder states that those people qualify as people that don't believe in climate change. This is to keep the association with Patagonia as an environmentally safe brand that strives for a green planet. Absolut Vodka has also attached messages to their trunks starting a movement entitled "#voteresponsibly". Under Armor launched a campaign called "Run to Vote" which made an effort to spread awareness about the 2020 Election to get people to the polls.

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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All of us at Ben & Jerry's are outraged about the murder of another Black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by police against protestors. We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims of murder, marginalization, and repression because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to say his name: George Floyd.

George Floyd was a son, a brother, a father, and a friend. The police officer who put his knee on George Floyd's neck and the police officers who stood by and watched didn't just murder George Floyd, they stole him. They stole him from his family and his friends, his church and his community, and from his own future.

The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy. What happened to George Floyd was not the result of a bad apple; it was the predictable consequence of a racist and prejudiced system and culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy from the beginning. What happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is the fruit borne of toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country in Jamestown in 1619, when the first enslaved men and women arrived on this continent. Floyd is the latest in a long list of names that stretches back to that time and that shore. Some of those names we know - Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. - most we don't.

The officers who murdered George Floyd, who stole him from those who loved him, must be brought to justice. At the same time, we must embark on the more complicated work of delivering justice for all the victims of state sponsored violence and racism.

Four years ago, we publicly stated our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Today, we want to be even more clear about the urgent need to take concrete steps to dismantle white supremacy in all its forms. To do that, we are calling for four things:

First, we call upon President Trump, elected officials, and political parties to commit our nation to a formal process of healing and reconciliation. Instead of calling for the use of aggressive tactics on protestors, the President must take the first step by disavowing white supremacists and nationalist groups that overtly support him, and by not using his Twitter feed to promote and normalize their ideas and agendas. The world is watching America's response.

Second, we call upon the Congress to pass H.R. 40, legislation that would create a commission to study the effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. We cannot move forward together as a nation until we begin to grapple with the sins of our past. Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were systems of legalized and monetized white supremacy for which generations of Black and Brown people paid an immeasurable price. That cost must be acknowledged and the privilege that accrued to some at the expense of others must be reckoned with and redressed.

Third, we support Floyd's family's call to create a national task force that would draft bipartisan legislation aimed at ending racial violence and increasing police accountability. We can't continue to fund a criminal justice system that perpetuates mass incarceration while at the same time threatens the lives of a whole segment of the population.

And finally, we call on the Department of Justice to reinvigorate its Civil Rights Division as a staunch defender of the rights of Black and Brown people. The DOJ must also reinstate policies rolled back under the Trump Administration, such as consent decrees to curb police abuses.

Unless and until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for its past and the impact it has on the present, and commit to creating a future steeped in justice, the list of names that George Floyd has been added to will never end. We have to use this moment to accelerate our nation's long journey towards justice and a more perfect union.

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Silence Is NOT An Option | Ben & Jerry's

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Ben & Jerry's has a long history of being a values-led company. Explore some of their greatest ice cream moments.

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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In response to the impact of George Floyd and the racial injustice protests that occured throughout the summer, Ben and Jerry's decided to suspend all ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in order to "'send a message to Facebook and Twitter, and also because this election is just too important,' said a Ben & Jerry's spokesperson to USA TODAY." On their website, they released a whole page dedicated to talking about White Supremacy saying, "Silence is NOT an Option". They also posted about it on social media, so the impact can be seen in the 10.8 thousand retweets on the twitter thread they used to promote their website page and sources. There is also 24.9 thousand likes on a post about an issue that the New York Times predicted incited 15-26 million people protesting in an estimated 550 locations around the United States. While this scale is not entirely the cause of Ben and Jerry's, the encouragement of protests from brands such as Ben and Jerry's made the situation more widely accepted and encouraged across the United States.

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who participated in the social media campaign. “K-pop Twitter and Alt TikTok have a good alliance where they spread information amongst each other very quickly. They all know the algorithms and how they can boost videos to get where they want.”

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What actually happened at Trump's campaign?

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What actually happened at Trump's campaign?

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Trump's reelection campaign , posted on Twitter on Monday that the campaign had fielded more than a million ticket requests but people who attended the campaign was significantly lower than expected. The campaign was cancelled and  a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said protesters stopped supporters from entering the rally, held at the BOK Center, which has a 19,000-seat capacity. According to the new york times, hundreds of teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans say they’re at least partially responsible.

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Many users deleted their posts after 24 to 48 hours in order to conceal their plan and keep it from spreading into the mainstream internet. “The majority of people who made them deleted them after the first day because we didn’t want the Trump campaign to catch wind,” Mr. Daniel said. “These kids are smart and they thought of everything.”

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Do social media companies have too much power?

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Do social media companies have too much power?

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Many people believe social media companies and influencers have too much control in politics. The influences of social media are very large even though many people believe information should come from unbiased news.

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Don't expect to see ice cream ads from Ben & Jerry's on your social media feed for the rest of the year.

The ice cream company is suspending all paid advertising for products on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the rest of 2020.

The decision comes with a two-fold approach. "Both to send a message to Facebook and Twitter, and also because this election is just too important," said a Ben & Jerry's spokesperson to USA TODAY.

Ben & Jerry's will, however, continue to run paid advertising in support of its activism campaigns that focus on racial justice and equity, and its 2020 election work around racial justice, voting rights and others.
Facebook election advertising blackout? 'Dear Mark':Mark Zuckerberg gets video from Facebook boycott organizers Company weighs political ads ban in final days before election
"This approach of stopping product advertising while continuing to use the platforms to advance our social justice work is consistent with the Stop Hate for Profit campaign that understands this work is too important to 'unilaterally disarm' across these platforms that remain powerful channels to engage citizens on these critically important issues," a spokesperson added.

Ben & Jerry's is following guidelines from Color of Change, an online racial justice organization, to continue to use paid media for campaigns on social platforms in support of racial justice.

During the nationwide protests of police brutality in June, the ice cream company released a statement saying "the murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy." The company went on to detail a list of demands including the creation of a national task force aimed at ending racial violence and increasing police accountability.

Earlier this month, some 1,100 advertisers, including Walt Disney, Harley Davidson, Novartis, Bayer and Blue Bottle Coffee, stopped buying ads on Facebook and Instagram during the month of July, with some advertisers pulling their spending through the end of the year.

The advertising boycott began shortly before the company's decision not to take down inflammatory rhetoric and false claims from President Donald Trump.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn Follow Josh Rivera on Twitter: @Josh1Rivera.
This is not the first time Ben & Jerry's has taken a political or social stance.

In 2005, it protested oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2011, it supported the Occupy Wall Street movement. And in 2018, Ben & Jerry's launched its "Pecan Resist" flavor supporting organizations working on peaceful resistance against the Trump administration.

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Ben & Jerry's to stop product ads on social media, to support racial justice

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Don't expect to see ice cream ads from Ben & Jerry's on your social media feed for the rest of the year. The ice cream company is suspending all paid advertising for products on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the rest of 2020. The decision comes with a two-fold approach.

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Do social media companies have to much power?

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Do social media companies have to much power?

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Most Americans say social media companies have too much power, influence in politics

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Roughly half of Americans think social media companies should be regulated more than they are now, our survey found.

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K-pop stans have been getting increasingly involved in American politics in recent months. After the Trump campaign solicited messages for the president’s birthday on June 8, K-pop stans submitted a stream of prank messages. And earlier in June, when the Dallas Police Department asked citizens to submit videos of suspicious or illegal activity through a dedicated app, K-pop Twitter claimed credit for crashing the app by uploading thousands of “fancam” videos.

They also reclaimed the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag in May, by spamming it with endless K-pop videos, in hopes to make it harder for white supremacists and sympathizers to find one another and communicate their messaging.

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7

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...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7 https://t.co/jT5qRswItN

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
...But that’s not enough. We need to defund police and prisons and invest in community services, like education, instead: https://t.co/czA8ieN3XJ https://t.co/2DiFtftLwu

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...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7 pic.twitter.com/jT5qRswItN
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) June 5, 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7 https://t.co/jT5qRswItN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].text
...But that’s not enough. We need to defund police and prisons and invest in community services, like education, instead: https://t.co/czA8ieN3XJ https://t.co/2DiFtftLwu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7 https://t.co/jT5qRswItN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
...Because Black Lives Matter, and justice is long overdue, so we better make sure it’s baked right into everything we do: https://t.co/i0tUtQMWz7

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
...But that’s not enough. We need to defund police and prisons and invest in community services, like education, instead: https://t.co/czA8ieN3XJ https://t.co/2DiFtftLwu

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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Ben and Jerry's Response to George Floyd

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The title is the name of the title this source corresponds with. The actual subject of this is talking about the BLM protests that occurred for a majority of this summer.

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By Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui and Jugal K. Patel

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Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History (Published 2020)

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Recent polls suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the U.S. have participated in recent protests.

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A live stream of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing the popular game Among Us has become one of the most-watched videos on Twitch.

More than 400,000 viewers made it the third-highest peak on record for the the game-streaming platform.

She appealed to gamers to join her online "to get out the vote" ahead of the US election on 3 November.

But she faced some criticism for "electioneering".

One analyst said the stunt worked because "she's a bit of a gamer".

"It feels genuine to me," said Louise Shorthouse, games industry analyst at Omdia.

"I do think it's a very smart way to raise voting awareness pre-election, especially amongst the notoriously hard-to-reach Gen Z."

But she warned that any other politicians trying to "capitalise on Twitch" would have a much harder time.

Among Us is a hugely popular online murder mystery game, which involves players trying to fix a broken spaceship - but among them is an impostor, tasked with sabotage and murder of the other cartoon characters.

Players must find the impostor - or avoid being found.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez - known by her supporters as AOC - began the stream by encouraging people to vote for the Democratic Party.

"Of course, we are here to vote Blue, that's [why] I'm here, to let you all know," she said.

Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I've never played but it looks like a lot of fun)
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter

Fellow Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar also joined the stream.

Record numbers

Esports consultant Rod Breslau noted that with 439,000 viewers at its peak, the Twitch stream was the third-highest viewed for an individual gamer.

The record is held by singer Drake, who was watched by more than 600,000 people, as he played Fortnite.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez's stream lasted about three and a half hours.

The congresswoman amassed more than 550,000 followers - more than any of her political counterparts on the platform.

Democratic senator Bernie Sanders has 160,000 followers, while Donald Trump has 143,000 - but both use Twitch for political broadcasts and speeches, rather than gaming.

'Raising awareness'

The reaction was largely positive, with viewers saying it was am "organic" way to engage with younger Americans.

"The impressiveness of AOC is not simply that she is a forceful and articulate proponent of the Democratic message, it is that she is able to speak credibly directly to millennials using platforms like Twitch," said Mitchell Robertson, fellow at the Rothermere American Institute.

But some criticised the Congresswoman for electioneering.

Watching @AOC and @IlhanMN play Among Us on Twitch while talking politics and encouraging people to get out the vote is exactly what I need in this crazy time of this election.
- Kate🌈🏹@ EVEN WITH THE DEVILS OF TIME AGAINST YOU (@adaxialabraxas) October 21, 2020

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter

"This is a very transparent move on her behalf. It's not the first time that a politician has aligned themselves with trends in order to gain popularity, or new followers. Overall, this seems to be a well-orchestrated political move," said Nicky Danino, principal lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

"It's a good profile raiser so it's worth a try. However, it's connecting young people to a politician, not necessarily politics," said Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool.

"It's too early to say whether it has any impact on voters but I would be sceptical. First, the age profile of those watching is likely to be young. They are less likely to vote.

"Second, political opponents are probably less likely to participate. Third, it's not changing people's minds on anything."

The Democrats have embraced gaming in this election, with presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign also creating a virtual field office in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

More on this story

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Among Us game watched by 400,000

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A live stream of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing the popular game Among Us has become one of the most-watched videos on Twitch. More than 400,000 viewers made it the third-highest peak on record for the the game-streaming platform. She appealed to gamers to join her online "to get out the vote" ahead of the US election on 3 November.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) streamed to Twitch for the first time to play with streamers such as Pokimane and HasanAbi and to encourage people to vote.

On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote?"

"Among Us" is an online game released in 2018 in which players on a spaceship try to root out a murderous alien impostor before it kills everyone. The game is similar in style to party games such as "Mafia" or "Werewolf." It has become enormously popular during the coronavirus pandemic.

Political scientists have plenty to say about politicians and the news media. However, they don't necessarily know as much as they should about current video games. That's why this post is a collaboration between a stereotypical clueless dad/political scientist, who stopped keeping up with video games around the time "Half-Life" was released in 1998, and a teenager with impeccable gaming chops who carried out the primary research for this post.

AOC's initiative attracted enormous interest.

After Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) - or AOC, as she is commonly known - posted her tweet, many creators and gamers replied, hoping to get a chance to play with the congresswoman. Those added to the stream included political streamer Hasan Piker, as well as popular gaming streamers Pokimane, Myth, Disguised Toast and Dr. Lupo, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Over the next 48 hours, AOC kept people up to date on Twitter as she put together her own streaming setup and created a channel on the Twitch service, which allows people to stream video games and other activities to a live audience. Twitch is owned by Amazon, whose founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, also owns The Washington Post.

AOC's experiment was highly successful by any reasonable measure. It had a peak live viewership of well over 400,000 people. AOC now has more than 600,000 Twitch followers and, according to the Verge, her initial videoclip accumulated over 4.7 million views by Wednesday morning. These are big numbers, suggesting that there is a large audience for politicians who are willing to do live gaming if they have the right profile.

Gaming can allow politicians to reach an unconventional audience.

So why might politicians want to play video games in front of a live audience? The answer is that it allows them to talk to an unconventional audience. As Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan recently wrote, most Americans pay little day-to-day attention to politics. Many of them vote, or can be persuaded to vote, but reaching them is tough precisely because they aren't likely to watch TV shows about politics or read articles about political issues. Politicians who want to attract these potential voters need to go where those voters are. That explains, for example, why President Barack Obama went on the daytime TV show "The View" when he was in office.

AOC said she wanted to play "Among Us" to get out the vote. Although detailed demographic information isn't publicly available, it's a pretty safe bet that "Among Us" players and Twitch users tend to be younger. Many of them (including the co-author of this article) are too young to vote. But those who are eligible to vote often don't. On average, young Americans are less likely to vote than other age groups. Playing "Among Us" on Twitch is probably a good way to reach some of these potential voters.

In addition to encouraging people to vote in general, AOC also provided more specific information to left-leaning voters in New York by promoting the New York Working Families Party (NY-WFP) during her live stream. New York voters can vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-N.Y.), on the Democratic line, but they also have the unusual ability to vote for Biden and Harris as candidates of the NY-WFP. If they vote for Biden and Harris on the NY-WFP line, they not only signal their support for the left to Democratic leaders, but they also help keep the NY-WFP alive. Under new rules introduced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the NY-WFP needs at least 2 percent of voter support in the presidential race if it is to keep its place on future ballots.

So how did AOC and Omar do as gamers? AOC was able to hold her own throughout the evening, even though she had very little experience with the game, and made fun of her mistakes. Omar struggled at the beginning because it was her first time playing the game. But once she understood the basic rules, she quickly became one of the most dangerous impostors on the stream. When she was randomly picked as the alien, Omar would take out crew member after crew member until, inevitably, one of the crew members' bodies was reported. After this, she was able to employ her debating skills to cast the blame on other members of the crew.

Jack Farrell is a high school student.

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Analysis | AOC just played 'Among Us' on Twitch. Over 400,000 people came to watch.

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On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote?" "Among Us" is an online game released in 2018 in which players on a spaceship try to root out a murderous alien impostor before it kills everyone.

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This is the title of information the article goes with. The article is actually about the voter turnout of the 2020 election.

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At least 159.8 million Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News projections Wednesday morning.

The projected vote total marks a record high number of ballots cast in a presidential election and the highest voter turnout rate among eligible citizens since 1900.

With 86% of the expected vote tallied as of 9:00 a.m. ET, NBC News projects that Democratic candidate Joe Biden received more than 68.6 million votes, President Donald Trump received more than 65.9 million votes and other candidates received more than 2.1 million votes. At least 23 million votes have yet to be tallied, NBC News estimates.

The projected 159.8 million cast ballots represent the highest number of voters in a U.S. presidential election in history. In 2016, the total stood just above 136.6 million votes.

Around 239.2 million Americans were eligible to vote in 2020, according to the U.S. Elections Project. NBC News' projected 159.8 million ballots cast in 2020 would constitute about a 66.8% voter turnout rate among eligible citizens - the highest since 1900.

The record voter turnout in 2020 was buoyed by more than 100 million ballots cast during the early voting period, according to data from the NBC News Decision Desk and TargetSmart, an analytics firm.

The number of ballots cast in 2020 by mail or in person before Election Day more than doubled that of 2016.

Overall, Democrats had an early vote advantage heading into Election Day with 43% of early or absentee votes compared with Republicans' 37%. While more Democrats than Republicans voted early by mail, more GOP voters cast ballots early in person than Democrats.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, many states expanded mail-in and in-person early voting, seeing huge dividends in voter turnout. Texas led early voting with at least 9.6 million votes cast before Election Day, according to NBC News and TargetSmart data.

No winner has been called yet in the 2020 presidential election as key states continue to tally votes.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for access to the livestream of CNBC's continuous election and business news coverage.

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2020 election sees record high turnout with at least 159.8 million votes projected

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At least 159.8 million Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News projections Wednesday morning. The projected vote total marks a record high number of ballots cast in a presidential election and the highest voter turnout rate among eligible citizens since 1900.

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Hillary Clinton's Attempt to use Entertainment to Attract Voters

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Hillary Clinton's Attempt to use Entertainment to Attract Voters

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Pokémon GO developer Niantic is telling players to "Pokémon GO to the polls" in an ill-advised callback to the 2016 US presidential election.

Niantic is attempting to get fans to "Pokémon to the polls" by partnering with several nonpartisan organizations in a depressing demonstration of just how little times have changed since 2016. With the 2020 US presidential election on the horizon, numerous parties have been frantically pulling out stops in an attempt to boost voter turnout. Just recently, for instance, it was revealed that Democratic candidate Joe Biden is posting election campaign ads inside Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The phrase "Pokémon GO to the polls" owes its existence to the 2016 presidential election. The beloved AR phone game was released to the public that year, and it caused a vast social phenomenon that saw players leaving their homes in droves, bonding over the game and making new friends in a beautiful period of happiness and activity vastly removed from the stifling lockdown people are forced to live with these days. In a misguided attempt to connect with young voters over this brief cultural revolution, then-candidate Hillary Clinton remarked that "I don't know who created Pokémon GO, but I want to figure out how to get them to have Pokémon GO to the polls." It was a forced, unfunny joke, and the internet panned her quite mercilessly for it.

Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view.

Related: The Pokémon Company Donates $5 Million After Pokemon GO Fest 2020 Success

Now, inexplicably, Niantic is bringing it back. In a recent Twitter post, the developer confirmed that it does in fact want people to " GO to the polls," and that to aid in this endeavor, it is partnering with a trio of nonpartisan groups with the aim of boosting voting numbers in the 2020 presidential election. These groups include Civic Alliance, a coalition of businesses dedicated to increasing voter turnout, Make Time To Vote, which is committed to giving corporate employees more time to fill out and submit their ballots, and Vote Early Day, which seeks to increase awareness of how voters can send their ballots in before election day.

This announcement has already caught flak from fans, many of whom are disappointed that the development team is getting involved in US politics when it's supposed to be marketing a game to a global audience. Still others criticize Niantic for affiliating with nonpartisan organizations. To say that the 2020 election is extremely divisive is to put it as lightly as possible, and there are some fans who think that by not allying with one side or the other, Niantic is being cowardly.

Voting is deeply important this year, arguably more important than it's ever been. Despite the many complaints on Twitter, there isn't really anything wrong with Niantic trying to raise awareness of the country's low voter turnout and do what it can to increase it. Calling back to an awkward, humorless joke from 2016 is probably not the best way to make that change happen, but Niantic shouldn't be faulted for trying. It is absolutely vital that US citizens go to the polls this year. They just shouldn't have to Pokémon GO there.

Next: Pokémon GO Nearly Doubles Number Of Pokémon Spawn Locations

Source: Niantic/Twitter
About The Author

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"Pokémon GO To the Polls" Returns From Our Worst Nightmares Of 2016

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Pokémon GO developer Niantic is telling players to "Pokémon GO to the polls" in an ill-advised callback to the 2016 US presidential election. Niantic is attempting to get fans to "Pokémon to the polls" by partnering with several nonpartisan organizations in a depressing demonstration of just how little times have changed since 2016.

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Donald Trump: Tulsa rally fails to draw expected crowds amid virus fears

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Donald Trump: Tulsa rally fails to draw expected crowds amid virus fears

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US President Donald Trump has held his first campaign rally since the US coronavirus lockdown began, in front of a smaller than expected crowd.

Mr Trump had boasted earlier this week that almost a million people had requested tickets for the event at Tulsa's Bank of Oklahoma Center.

But the 19,000-seat arena was far from full and plans for him to address an outside "overflow" area were abandoned.

There had been concerns about holding the rally during the pandemic.

Coronavirus was one issue Mr Trump touched on in his wide-ranging, almost two-hour-long speech to cheering supporters in Oklahoma, a Republican heartland.

Mr Trump said he told officials to slow down Covid-19 testing because so many cases were being detected, in remarks later described as a joke.

Those attending the rally had to sign a waiver protecting the Trump campaign from responsibility for any illness. Hours before the event began, officials said six staff members involved in organising the rally had tested positive.

However, it is unclear why attendance was lower than initially anticipated. Mr Trump referred to those in the stadium as "warriors", while blaming the media and protesters for keeping supporters away. There were some volatile scenes outside the venue but no serious trouble was reported.

Mr Trump's re-election campaign event was one of the biggest indoor gatherings held in the US since the country's Covid-19 outbreak began, and came at a time when Oklahoma is seeing a rise in confirmed cases.

More than 2.2 million cases of Covid-19 and 119,000 associated deaths have been reported in the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

What did Trump say?

In his opening remarks, Mr Trump said there had been "very bad people outside, they were doing bad things", but did not elaborate. Black Lives Matter activists were among the counter-protesters to gather outside the venue before the event.

On the coronavirus response, Mr Trump said he had encouraged officials to slow down testing because it led to more cases being discovered. He described testing as a "double-edged sword".

"Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases," he told the cheering crowd. "So I said 'slow the testing down'. They test and they test."

The coronavirus, Mr Trump said, had many names, including "Kung Flu", a xenophobic term that appears to be a reference to China, where Covid-19 originated.

Almost 120,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the US since the pandemic began, a number that health experts say could have been much higher had testing not been ramped up. Testing, health officials say, is important to understand where and how widely coronavirus is spreading, and therefore prevent further deaths.

A White House official later said the president was "obviously kidding" about Covid-19 testing.

Taking aim at his Democratic presidential rival, Mr Trump described Joe Biden as "a helpless puppet of the radical left".

The president also struck a combative tone when he touched on anti-racism protests - and the toppling of statues - which began after the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis.

"The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalise our history, desecrate our monuments - our beautiful monuments - tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control. We're not conforming," he told the crowd.

The Trump campaign event in Tulsa had all the colour and character of one of his typical rallies.

The "Make America Great Again" hats, the Hillary Clinton "lock her up" chants, the ear-piercing soundtrack - squint, and it felt like the kind of raucous celebration that powered Trump to the White House in 2016 and buoyed the president through the ups and downs of his presidency.

The only thing missing was the capacity crowd, as vast swathes of blue upper-deck seats remained empty even as Trump entered the stage.

Blame the coronavirus for discouraging people from attending. Blame phantom protesters - as the Trump campaign did in a statement - for blocking access to the rally site. Blame mischievous liberals for flooding the campaign with fake ticket requests, encouraging the campaign to prepare for massive overflow crowds.

Whatever the reason, those massive crowds simply didn't materialise. It wasn't a bad turnout, but when your campaign boasts of more than a million RSVPs, it's an embarrassing look to hit way below that mark.

For a campaign struggling to steady itself amid sagging polls and a public increasingly uneasy about the direction of the nation, the president may have needed more than a comfort-blanket rally that harkens back to better days.

What's the background?

There had been fierce opposition, including a legal challenge rejected by Oklahoma's Supreme Court, against holding the rally during the pandemic on health grounds.

Some feared the rally could become a coronavirus "super spreader" event.

In a Facebook post, Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum acknowledged that Tulsa's residents were divided over it being the first city to host such an event.

"We do this as our positive Covid-19 cases are rising, but while our hospital capacity remains strong. Some think it is great, some think it is reckless. Regardless of where each of us falls on that spectrum, we will go through it as a community," he wrote.

Emotions have also been running high following the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis last month, which sparked widespread anti-racism protests.

Mayor GT Bynum declared on Thursday a curfew covering the area around the BOK Center, citing the risk of "civil unrest". But on Friday, Mr Trump announced that the curfew had been lifted for "our many supporters".

Mr Trump had initially planned to hold the rally on Friday. But he changed the date last week after learning it fell on 19 June, known as Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the US.

The choice of location is also controversial. In 1921, Tulsa was the scene of a massacre in which white mobs attacked black people and businesses, killing an estimated 300 people.

At a peaceful Juneteenth rally in Tulsa on Friday, the civil rights activist Al Sharpton said campaigners could "Make America Great" for everybody for the first time.

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Donald Trump: Tulsa rally fails to draw expected crowds amid virus fears

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US President Donald Trump has held his first campaign rally since the US coronavirus lockdown began, in front of a smaller than expected crowd. Mr Trump had boasted earlier this week that almost a million people had requested tickets for the event at Tulsa's Bank of Oklahoma Center.

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How did Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power?

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How did Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power?

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Mr. Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there’s every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern.

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Congress woman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, launched a twitch stream on October 20th, 2020 in hopes to attract people part of Generation Z to vote in the 2020 Election. Considering the 2020 election attracted the most amount of voters America has ever previously seen, the Cortez likely contributed to this number by making voting seem more approachable, and politics less boring to the people of generation Z that would typically not go to the polls or participate in politics. Her twitch stream attracting around 550,000 followers, and 439,000 viewers at its peak. Cortez's tweet pitching the idea of her twitch stream has gathered about 43,900 retweets, and 398,300 likes. The Washington Post stated, "On average, young Americans are less likely to vote than other age groups. Playing “Among Us” on Twitch is probably a good way to reach some of these potential voters."

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How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power 

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How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power 

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As a result, when he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there's every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern. His e-mail message to supporters on Tuesday night included the line, "We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next." The incoming administration is already open for business on the Web at Change.gov, a digital gateway for the transition.

The Bush campaign arrived at the White House with a conviction that it would continue a conservative revolution with the help of Karl Rove's voter lists, phone banks and direct mail. But those tools were crude and expensive compared with what the Obama camp is bringing to the Oval Office.

"I think it is very significant that he was the first post-boomer candidate for president," Mr. Andreessen said. "Other politicians I have met with are always impressed by the Web and surprised by what it could do, but their interest sort of ended in how much money you could raise. He was the first politician I dealt with who understood that the technology was a given and that it could be used in new ways."

The juxtaposition of a networked, open-source campaign and a historically imperial office will have profound implications and raise significant questions. Special-interest groups and lobbyists will now contend with an environment of transparency and a president who owes them nothing. The news media will now contend with an administration that can take its case directly to its base without even booking time on the networks.

More profoundly, while many people think that President-elect Obama is a gift to the Democratic Party, he could actually hasten its demise. Political parties supply brand, ground troops, money and relationships, all things that Mr. Obama already owns.

And his relationships are not the just traditional ties of Democrats - teachers' unions, party faithful and Hollywood moneybags - but a network of supporters who used a distributed model of phone banking to organize and get out the vote, helped raise a record-breaking $600 million, and created all manner of media clips that were viewed millions of times. It was an online movement that begot offline behavior, including producing youth voter turnout that may have supplied the margin of victory.

"Thomas Jefferson used newspapers to win the presidency, F.D.R. used radio to change the way he governed, J.F.K. was the first president to understand television, and Howard Dean saw the value of the Web for raising money," said Ranjit Mathoda, a lawyer and money manager who blogs at Mathoda.com. "But Senator Barack Obama understood that you could use the Web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work."

All of the Obama supporters who traded their personal information for a ticket to a rally or an e-mail alert about the vice presidential choice, or opted in on Facebook or MyBarackObama can now be mass e-mailed at a cost of close to zero. And instead of the constant polling that has been a motor of presidential governance, an Obama White House can use the Web to measure voter attitudes.

"When you think about it, a campaign is a start-up business," Mr. Mathoda said. "Other than his speech in 2004 at the convention and his two books, Mr. Obama had very little in terms of brand to begin with, and he was up against Senator Clinton, who had all the traditional sources of power, and then Senator McCain. But he had the right people and the right idea to take them on. When you think about it, it was like he was going up against Google and Yahoo. And he won."

There is tremendous power in opening citizen access to government - think of how much good will and support Mayor Michael Bloomberg garnered by coming up with 311, a one-stop phone number for New Yorkers who had a problem.

But now Senator Obama's 20-month conversation with the electorate enters a new phase. There is sense of ownership, a kind of possessive entitlement, on the part of the people who worked to elect him. The shorthand for his organizing Web site, "MyBO," says it all.

"People will continue to expect a conversation, a two-way relationship that is a give and take," said Thomas Gensemer, managing partner of Blue State Digital, which helped conceive and put into effect Obama's digital outreach. "People who were part of the campaign will opt in to political or governing tracks and those relationships will continue in some form."

The founders of America wanted a government that reflected its citizens, but would be at remove from the baser impulses of the mob. The mob, flush with victory, is at hand, but instead of pitchforks and lanterns, they have broadband and YouTube. Like every other presidency, the Obama administration will have its battles with the media, but that may seem like patty-cake if it runs afoul of the self-publishing, self-organizing democracy it helped create - say, by delaying health care legislation or breaking a promise on taxes.

That's the thing about pipes today: they run both ways.

"It's clear there has been a dramatic shift," said Andrew Rasiej, the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference about the intersection of politics and technology. "Any politician who fails to recognize that we are in a post-party era with a new political ecology in which connecting like minds and forming a movement is so much easier will not be around long.

"Yes, we have met Big Brother, the one who is always watching. And Big Brother is us."

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How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power

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As a result, when he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there's every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern.

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Does politicians using social media actually influences the political events in the US?

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Does politicians using social media actually influences the political events in the US?

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Social media has been used in political campaigns ranging from small local elections to larger-scale presidential elections. While social media can be used to raise donations, several candidates focused on using it to promote their own campaign. Politicians cannot control the conversation in social media.

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Election maps: The impact of social media on elections within the united states

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Election maps: The impact of social media on elections within the united states

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Live election results: The 2020 presidential race

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Live 2020 Presidential election results and maps by state. POLITICO's coverage of 2020 races for President, Senate, House, Governors and Key Ballot Measures.

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Election maps: The impact of social media on elections within the united states

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Election maps: The impact of social media on elections within the united states

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The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine.

While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide, a margin of 2.1% of the total cast, Trump won a victory in the Electoral College, winning 30 states with 306 pledged electors out of 538, and overturned the perennial swing states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, as well as the "blue wall" of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which had been Democratic strongholds in presidential elections since the 1990s. Leading up to the election, a Trump victory was projected unlikely by most media forecasts.

In the Electoral College vote on December 19, there were seven faithless electors; two defected from Trump while five defected from Clinton. Three other Clinton electors attempted to defect but were replaced or forced to vote again due to their respective state laws. Ultimately, Trump received 304 electoral votes and Clinton garnered 227, while Colin Powell won three, and John Kasich, Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, and Faith Spotted Eagle each received one.

Trump became the fifth person in U.S. history to become president despite losing the nationwide popular vote. He is the first president without any prior experience in public service, while Clinton was the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major American party.

Popular vote totals from Federal Elections 2016.

Issues of the Day: Health care costs, Economic inequality, Terrorism, Foreign policy (Russia, Iran, Syria, Brexit), Gun control, Treatment of minorities, Immigration policy, Shifting media landscape

One of only 5 elections (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, 2016) where the popular vote winner was defeated

Hillary Clinton first female presidential nominee of a major political party

Clinton won Maine but Trump earned an electoral vote by winning the popular vote in the 2nd Congressional District. This marked the first time that Maine has split its electoral vote since it moved away from the winner-take-all method in 1972.

Independent Evan McMullin received 21.5% of the vote in Utah; best '3rd party' performance in any single state since Ross Perot in 1992

Libertarian Gary Johnson received over 3% of the nationwide vote; best 3rd party performance nationwide since Ross Perot in 1996

There were seven faithless presidential electors. Aside from 1872 - death of Horace Greeley - it is the greatest number since electors began casting one vote each for president and vice president (12th Amendment, 1804). Three additional faithless votes, one each in Colorado, Maine and Minnesota, were disallowed.

Clinton won Washington; however three electors cast votes for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle

Trump won Texas; however one elector cast a vote for Ron Paul, another for John Kasich

Clinton won Hawaii; however one elector cast a vote for Bernie Sanders

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Presidential Election of 2016 - 270toWin

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The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine.