Article source for : Hillary 1984 'Big Sister'
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cWvHbOoG3tI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cWvHbOoG3tI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
The above YouTube "video":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo that was introduced in early March 2007 is a hilarious pro-Obama/anti-Hillary "campaign ad" that's a take-off of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(television_commercial)">Apple's classic 1984 Super Bowl commercial</a> where the company introduced the Macintosh computer. The Apple commercial was based upon "George Orwell's":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_orwell book "Nineteen Eighty-Four":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four. Big Brother.
So I guess Hillary is Big Sister. Obama's campaign denies producing the "ad." Someone with money must have created it because of the copyright issues.
This pro-Obama ad is identical to the Apple commercial except, of course, for Hillary's face and voice replacing that of Big Brother. Here's a screenshot from the 1984 Macintosh ad:
"!http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Ad_apple_1984_2.png!":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ad_apple_1984_2.png
But a couple other subtle differences exist. In the pro-Obama ad, the girl running with the sledgehammer is wearing an iPod, and on her tanktop is the Obama slogan or logo. Pretty slick. I think the Hillary audio and video used in "Hillary 1984" is from Hillary's own online video(s).
From a March 18, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle story titled "Political video smackdown":http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F03%2F18%2FMNGHNONEPS1.DTL&feed=rss.news :
<q>
It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate -- one experts say *could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising*. Yet the groundbreaking 74-second pitch for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which remixes the classic "1984" ad that introduced Apple computers to the world, is not on cable or network TV, *but on the Internet.*
And Obama's campaign says it had absolutely nothing to do with the video that attacks one of his principal Democratic rivals, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Indeed, the ad's creator is a mystery, at least for now.
The compelling "Hillary 1984" video recently introduced on YouTube represents "a new era, a new wave of politics ... because it's not about Obama," said Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank on politics and new media. *"It's about the end of the broadcast era."*
The ad is proof that "anybody can do powerful emotional ads ... and the campaigns are no longer in control," Rosenberg said. "It will no longer be a top-down candidate message; that's a 20th century broadcast model." It also dramatizes that today, political activists with the Internet as their ammunition have gone from being "just donors to the cause," he said, "to being partners in the fight. And they don't have to wait for permission."
</q>
Here's "Apple's 1984 Macintosh Super Bowl commercial":http://youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 for comparison :
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
*Side note:* _"[ "George Orwell":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_orwell ] is best known for two novels critical of fascism, stalinism and totalitarianism written and published towards the end of his life: "Animal Farm":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm and "Nineteen Eighty-Four":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four."_
"C.S. Lewis":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis wrote an essay about Orwell, and Lewis believes Animal Farm is a better story than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lewis "wrote":http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Other-Essays-Literature/dp/0156687887 :
_"For [1984] seems to me to be merely a flawed, interesting book; but the Farm is a work of genius which may well outlive the particular and (let us hope) temporary conditions that provoked it."_
h2. HC 84 creator
March 21, 2007 Huffington Post "article":http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/who-created-hillary-1984_b_43978.html :
<q>
Well, today I can end the guessing. Last night, we sent out a challenge to the HuffPost team asking them to hit the phones and contact all their sources. As a result, we have learned the video was the work of Philip de Vellis, who was the Internet communications director for Sherrod Brown's 2006 Senate campaign, and who now works at "Blue State Digital":http://www.bluestatedigital.com/, a company created by members of Howard Dean's Internet Team.
When I called Phil de Vellis, I invited him to blog on HuffPost about this, about the creation of the video, and about the explosive reaction to his work.
He has. Read his post "here":http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-de-vellis-aka-parkridge/i-made-the-vote-differen_b_43989.html.
</q>
Excerpts from what Phil de Vellis said :
<q>
I made the "Vote Different" ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process.
This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens.
The campaigns had no idea who made it--not the Obama campaign, not the Clinton campaign, nor any other campaign. I made the ad on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software), uploaded it to YouTube, and sent links around to blogs.
Let me be clear: I am a proud Democrat, and I always have been. I support Senator Obama. I hope he wins the primary.
I've resigned from my employer, Blue State Digital, an internet company that provides technology to several presidential campaigns, including Richardson's, Vilsack's, and -- full disclosure -- Obama's. The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients. But I've decided to resign anyway so as not to harm them, even by implication.
This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.
</q>
Excerpts from Blue State Digital's "statement":http://www.bluestatedigital.com/2007/03/on_the_1984_video.html
<q>
Pursuant to company policy regarding outside political work or commentary on behalf of our clients or otherwise, Mr. de Vellis has been terminated from Blue State Digital effective immediately.
Blue State Digital is under contract with the Obama Campaign for technology pursuits including software development and hosting. Additionally, one of our founding partners is on leave from the company to work directly for the campaign at headquarters.
Mr. de Vellis created this video on his own time. It was done without the knowledge of management, and was in no way tied to his work at the firm or our formal engagement [on technology pursuits] with the Obama campaign.
</q>
tag=politics
tag=video
