For those of you who don't keep up on politics, Joe the Plumber, whose real name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, became nearly as popular as the candidates during this year's presidential election. After asking now President Elect Barrack Obama a question at a campaign stop in Ohio, Joe the Plumber became a symbol representing middle-class Americans for the rest of the election. Now that the election is over, Joe the Plumber is now representing the average Joe to relate to consumers in a series of videos about the DTV Transition.
Right now this is the only commercial VelocityStore.com has listed on it's website. However, you can sign up to be alerted by email when a new Joe the Plumber commercial is posted.
Although I'm not sure Joe the Plumber is the best spokesperson for this company, I do have to admit this is an innovative approach to getting the word out about the DTV Transition. People may look at these ads and think, "Wow if Joe the Plumber can do this so can I." However, the reality of it is that Joe the Plumber is a pseudo-celebrity that is being paid to sell a product to the average American. He may be able to sell a few boxes for velocitystore.com, but I think this company will soon realize they should have just saved the money they paid him to endorse their online business.
I personally am sick of hearing about the Joe the Plumber and I think many other Americans feel the same way. For instance I found this video on YouTube from www.theyoungturks.com.
Although this blog post seems more about Joe the Plumber than about the DTV Transition, I felt it was important to talk about it to show how the lines are being blurred between politics, popular culture and public service information. This new convergence is a great example of how media can make someone a pop culture icon overnight and how this icon can go from politics to commercials nearly as quickly.
It seems with all the technology we have available to us these days, nearly anyone can get their 15 seconds of fame. Unfortunately for us, Joe the Plumber gotten more than his fair share. I just hope, for Joe the Plumber's sake, they don't start showing these commercials on TV.
1 comment:
So this post is great! Joe better be careful with these endorsements otherwise hes gonna be paying Mr. Obama all that tax money they were talking about. I love how you can see his eyes tracking the teleprompter/cue cards, and his "deadpan" face thruout the whole clip. But hey, everybody makes a buck somehow. So plumbers are DTV experts as well?? I should go find one of these guys in the Fargo yellow pages....:)-
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