Politics meets popular culture
November 4, 2008
The election has inundated nearly every aspect of our popular culture. Musician will. i. am., along with other celebrities, put music to Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s speeches and Republican candidate John McCain claimed that Obama is a mere celebrity in one of his ads. And now voting patterns might be determined from products sold to consumers.
The 7-Eleven franchise has been selling cups of coffee featuring the names of Barack Obama and John McCain on them. This helps “7-Eleven coffee drinkers weigh in on the election with every coffee purchase” and the results were featured weekly in USA Today. Featuring the phrase “Every Cup Counts!” 7-eleven.com also advertised its alternate election website, 7-election.com, to observe the results of the election.
Similarly, Starbucks is giving out free tall coffees and Ben & Jerry’s is giving out free ice cream to those customers with voting stickers on. In the most extreme of cases, Babeland adult store is giving out free sex toys to voters.
“We’re expecting a good response,” said Pamela Doan, a Babeland spokeswoman.
While civic duty may still be a part of the voting process in this country, capitalism and consumerism are also coming into play. Whether this is a good or bad thing is certainly an issue.
By Ian Sorensen
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