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"MTV recently announced that for the first time ever, it is going to air political ads. On first glance, this move seems to reflect an exciting cultural shift: young people are showing a heightened interest in this election, and the candidates want to reach out to them. But when I look deeper, I begin do doubt: is MTV really the &amp;amp;quot;best way to do that&amp;amp;quot; as a company rep says? Not at all&amp;amp;#8212;political engagement might just be the last pure, non overly-commercialized cool thing for my generation to take part in, and I would rather not see it paraded next to car commercials and the superficial brats on My Super Sweet Sixteen. Campaign ads are bad enough on any network&amp;amp;#8212;they take the worst from presidential campaigns (vague language, sensationalist imagery) and make then even worse (voiceovers, montages, and all those baby pictures). I don&amp;#x27;t see their new home at MTV as good news for young voter awareness because even if MTV has done a great job with Rock The Vote, that&amp;#x27;s completely different than trying to reach us with repeated sales pitches. Candidates trying to win us over through cheesy ads are going to muddle the message; choosing the next president shouldn&amp;#x27;t be on par with choosing what color iPod you&amp;#x27;re going to get (vanilla Silver, or audacious Hot Pink?). Shame on MTV for cashing in on our growing participation, and shame on Obama for lobbying for this. The &amp;amp;quot;best way&amp;amp;quot; to reach out to us is to continue talking about the issues we care about, wherever. It&amp;#x27;s not necessary to assume they&amp;#x27;ll find us through MTV&amp;amp;#8212;I mean, who even watches it anymore? Do you watch MTV? Are you glad you can now get a shot of Barack with your Tila Tequila? &amp;amp;#8212;Fern"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/glamocracy/2008/07/i-want-my-mtv-with-heidi-and-l>