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I Made the "Vote Different" (1984 Barack Obama) Ad

huffingtonpost.com — Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it. 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. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it will follow.

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  • jstohler, on 10/12/2007, -33/+9Powerful ad, but I wish you would have used it to attack one of the real enemies on the R side of the aisle.
    • nokla, on 10/12/2007, -21/+21Yeah, Ron Paul is such an enemy for having the decency to take his oath of office seriously.
    • emanggid, on 10/12/2007, -8/+8What's wrong with this idea?
    • cybermort, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3is better to attack the undercover ones first
  • PatNolan, on 10/12/2007, -21/+13The sad thing is Phil didn't make it. Phil stole it. He co-opted intellectual property that wasn't his. And in doing so, hurt the very candidate he was trying to help.
    • Schratboy, on 10/12/2007, -25/+7You're absolutely right. Taking Apples' intellectual property and making a few edits doesn't make it a unique piece. I suspect that Apple really doesn't care though because it only helps to reinforce their image as being 'Different.'

      It's so typical for a liberal meat-head to glomm onto somone else's effort and claim it for themself. I will acknowledge at least one point that Mr. de Vellis made. Indeed, the new media has changed the way campaigns will be waged, but I don't think the demicritter hamsterados are going to like what the GOP are going to float against them. There won't be any wailing, knashing of teeth and diaper wetting over FOX News reporting, because the counter-Americans, the conservative forces, will take to Youtube and whatever else and lay a lump on their soft, mushy heads.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17"It's so typical for a liberal meat-head to glomm onto somone else's effort and claim it for themself."

      This is honestly the first time i've ever heard liberals stereotyped like this. If its so typical... can you give me any other examples?
    • stonewaljacksn, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4schratboy, ur a loser, shut up wiht your pointless liberal bashing.
      BUT...PatNolan is completely absolutely right and the fact that he is dugg down says a lot of negative things about the political knowledge of the diggers on this site.
  • johnsatre, on 10/12/2007, -11/+33that's very clever, taking one of the most famous advertisements of all time and making it into...another advertisement...

    don't quit your day job. oh, wait...
  • FeargusMcDuff, on 10/12/2007, -17/+5Perhaps try to integrate correct grammar into the title, I doubt someone running for president of the united states wants people to think he doesn't have a decent grasp of the English language.

    It's "Vote Differently"

    ...You cant "Vote different"
    • lnf69, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3cant not equal to can not
      can't = can not
    • Schratboy, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Or cannot.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13hah, one grammar nazi grammar nazi'd another grammar nazi.


      Hey, grammar nazis, can "grammar nazi" be made into a verb?
    • stonewaljacksn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1oddmanout
      yes it can lol. rampant grammar naziing in the above comments.
    • mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1You people think your real smart, dontcha.
    • jhnewt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4"Or cannot."

      Next time you should try using more than just a sentence fragment. Now can anyone grammar nazi me?
    • ruz322, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2"Or cannot."

      Next time you should try using more than just a sentence fragment. Now can anyone grammar nazi me?

      I can. You have a comma splice in your second sentence. It should be written like this; Now, can anyone grammar Nazi me?
    • mdmadph, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1this ***** just further proves my point that written language is doomed because it's just too goddamned complex.
    • Smuikas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"I can. You have a comma splice in your second sentence. It should be written like this; Now, can anyone grammar Nazi me?"

      That wasn't a comma splice. A comma splice is when you join two complete sentences with a comma without a connecting word.

      Ex: I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.

      You were thinking, "Run-on sentence," which is like a comma splice -- but without the comma.

      You also misused a semicolon; a colon is used when prefacing an example, whilst a semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses without a connecting verb. It is also used as a "supercolon," to connect several items in a list while each item in the list contains a comma:

      Major cities in the United States include: New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; and Atlanta, Georgia.

      /endgrammarnazimode
    • elhaf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Eh, someBody beat me to it.
    • jobenly, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0A semicolon is generally used to separate two complete and related thoughts.

      Good:
      I didn't buy a PS3; I don't have enough money. *Note how the second thought continues the reasoning in the first.
      I didn't buy a PS3 because I don't have enough money. *When in doubt, stick to the basics and you won't look like an idiot.

      Bad:
      I didn't buy a PS3; I like Cheerios. *Not related thoughts
      I didn't buy a PS3, I don't have enough money. *Comma splice
    • bluto36, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1is the language to complex or are there just more illiterate retards that can't grasp it?
  • spearce, on 10/12/2007, -12/+12i don't get all the fuss about another political add that a majority of the people will never see. for all the claims of being "different" it looked like the same ol' shiat to me.
    • lnf69, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19What is different about this was not the content, but the fact that it was created and posted and promoted by a single individual.
      Again not the content, but the new concepts born from the precedent the author is trying to make.
    • coit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Add me to the list of people who don't get it.

      Many folks these days have the capability of making something like this in a few hours. Many can also do much more.

      The only problem I see is that he made it look as though it had been endorsed by the obama campaign, rather than putting in a disclaimer.

      What the Dem's ought to be worrying about is how they can avoid their party becoming defacto Socialist, as it is currently heading toward like a runaway train.
  • spearce, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3people are claiming responsibility for the add all over the place...
  • Ladon, on 10/12/2007, -21/+2He should have take a few more classes on compositing, some of those shots were downright horrible.
    • jdc760, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14You should have taken a few more classes on grammar. That sentence was downright horrible.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3if you read the article, he said it wasn't supposed to be anything professional, its something he threw together on a sunday afternoon to put on some blogs.
  • lnf69, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Is the ad good, bad, different? Is he the real creator of the ad?
    Who cares.
    I don't see that as the main point of the article.

    I think the important point here can be seen here, taken FTA:
    "... This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed. ..."

    The point seems to be, thanks to new technologies, the average joe can create a video, a fairly easy process, that expresses personal political views, and make it visible to millions and millions.

    That's pretty interesting. Of course just because millions of ppl CAN see the ad, doesn't mean that millions WILL see the ad.
    • ahawks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Am I the only one that realizes the reality of "citizen generated" campaign ads?

      Politicians will get pissed and sue. Doesn't matter what the ad is saying, if it's not endorsed directly by the politician, it's slander/libel. That's why all the TV/radio/print ads for candidates start or end with "I'm ___ and I endorse this advertisement".

      Further, if they get away with it, the line will blur between real ads and parody ads.
      For example, "Barack Obama supports Gay Rights. In fact, he loves Gay people so much, he takes it in the bum!"

      And finally, the reality gap between what is presented and the truth of a candidate will explode.
  • Schratboy, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5I was dumbstruck by the fact that there was a company, Blue State Digital, that does campaign work exclusively for liberals. I wonder what their EEOC policy reads like: "We do not discriminate according race, religion or sexual orientation unless you're a republican."

    HAhahahahahaha
  • DeskFlyer, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2I made some bacon this morning.
  • maeon3, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3This video explains some important issues Obama needs to Champion:

    http://freedomtofascism.com/
  • tinker123, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13One thing people should remember for the primaries: don't piss on the image of anyone seeking your party's nomination too much. They might win the nomination, but they will be soaked and smelling like urin when they go up against the other party's candidate for the presidency.
    • Area417, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I say it is time to piss on 'em. I don't care what party it is. Good grief, look where partisan politics has gotten us. I'm SICK of hearing about how you must support an undesirable candidate because the other guy's party will win if you don't. It's the way both major parties (and even third parties) try to control you.
  • fashiontrot, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Phil,

    Why in the hell did you use the Ad with the iPod digitally placed in? You've created a fan edit of a fan edit of an advertisement.

    Media,

    Why aren't you mentioning that this was an Apple advertisement from 1984 in your reporting? Everyone taking in your coverage thinks this Phil ***** made the entire thing himself.
    • hifiDesign, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2fashiontrot,

      The mainstream media primarily consists of dumbasses that are consistently a day late and a dollar short. These are the same people blaming the Nindento DS for spreading pedophilia and the Wii for making porn so accessible to our children... This detail is out of the scope of their caring and/or comprehension.
  • euphemizeme, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Am I the only person who didn't think the ad was as awesome as everybody is making it out to be? The original ad was cool. For this ad, not a whole lot was changed, and what Hilary was saying wasn't exactly damning.
    • treed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9It's not so much what she was saying, but the notion that Hilary wants to have a "conversation" with us. She wants no such thing, and is having no such thing. The video highlights that. Hilary's conversation is a one-sided "sit and listen to me" conversation.
    • gfunk842, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2I think it's funny that Apple just can't seem to live this ad down. For the record, the original ad aired ONCE before Apple realized it was more retarded than a Republican with down syndrome. I just like seeing it on TV again.
    • stonewaljacksn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I dont really see that many people who think it was all that awesome. Those who do think so, are probably too young to even vote. As an Obama supporter, this ad REALLY made me mad, especially because as a Howard Dean supporter in the last democratic primary, I saw so many damn democrats, namely John Edwards and the Heatmiser John Kerry, go ALL OUT mudslinging on Howard Dean.
      Way to go Phil. You got the 15 year olds excited and made Obama look like a hypocrite.
  • djmik83, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1This is Sparta!!!
  • afruff23, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Did the original ad have a woman with an iPod throwing a hammer? I don't think the iPod existed back then.

    EDIT:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=9qPdGgg57aU&mode=related&search=
    No, it didn't.
    • ejm508, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7There was an edited version that they showed at a MacWorld conference a few years ago where they showed it with an iPod
  • MSSS, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2WRONG TITLE.

    This is an anti-establishment (maybe anti-Hilary) ad... Nothing is said about Obama, Edwards or anyone else!
    • treed, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Except the part at the end with the URL for Obama's website. And the Apple logo modified to look like an O.
  • fiv3isaliv3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Response from Blue State Digital (where this guy used to work)

    http://www.bluestatedigital.com/2007/03/on_the_1984_video.html
    • Xarou, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10Phil - I resigned

      Article - He has been terminated.

      GG Phil, you liar, you can't hide it for too long. And now you just associated a liar to the Obama campaign. Congrats.
    • hifiDesign, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The company Phil works for is Blue State Digital and they *gasp* work for Democratic clients... So why is a politically leaning company in a scramble to disavow this guy in a press release when he did the work outside, on his own, for no profit? Stupid afraid-of-my-own-shadow, ass-covering BS...

      Phil — you should've kept your mouth shut. The video would have the same effect and you'd still have a job. Self-inflicted martyrdom never works out...
  • buu2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@afruff23
    Apple rereleased the ad in 2004 with the girl having an ipod for a conference or something like that. He just used the 2004 ad, not the 1984 ad.
  • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3when do we get to see Ellen Feiss do an Obama Ad?
    • santiago1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5when do we get to see Ellen Feiss do Obama?

      ..there, fixed that for ya.
  • c0ldfusi0n, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13So let me get this straight.
    Freedom of speech is free. Creativity is free. Publicly taking a social stand is free.


    But in the end, he lost his job anyway.
    • mumblyjoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I work for a large high-tech company. When I signed on, I had to agree to give them ownership of everything I do. How fair is that?
  • wickerkat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0grammarnatzed
  • DavidDigg, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Bill Richardson FTW!!!
  • eth3l, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Why does this ghuy think he's so great? His article is elitist and self-promoting. the ad was satirical and comical, but not all the great. the game has not changed and at its root will remain the same.
  • lorductape, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it. And got fired because of it. And am now living on the streets. But I did it.
  • DirtyBrowncoat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2So, Hillary is a fat guy with glasses and Obama is a cool white dude in a hoodie?

    After seeing that ad, I'm going to buy a C64, the Ron Paul of PC's :)
  • 8270369, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3What's the point, that Clinton is a Nazi dictator? Gimme a freaking break. Phil, do you have any idea whatsoever what WWII was about? Have you even read Nineteen Eighty Four? Grow the ***** up.
  • polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Sure, vote differently, by voting for one of the only two parties to ever have control over the government in most of our lifetimes. Yeah, that's a real bold move. I voted for a different corporation this time!!!
  • WarPirate, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Mike Huckabee FTW!!!
  • NymphoChik, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Why, in God's name, is so much attention being paid to an election that is over a year and a half away!?!!?
    • polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4yeah, I mean it's not important or anything..........
  • VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Shouldn't it be "Vote Differently"?
  • scottjl, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4hey, great ad. you got people thinking. you got people talking. you stirred up some trouble. not bad for one weekend's work was it? congrats!

    *** for all the people trashing phil, what have YOU done lately that's noteworthy around the world? ***
    • stonewaljacksn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I have done all that I could to NOT make a candidate that I support look like a mudslinging douchebag.
  • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3To all Obama supporters: HE CANNOT WIN!

    Regardless of how good of a guy he is (debatable), or how good of a President he could be (strongly debatable), he has two HUGE strikes against him:

    1. He is a smoker. The American public of today will never vote for a smoker.
    2. His middle name is Hussein. There is no way the American public will vote for someone with an Arabic name, and especially one shared with our beloved Saddam. This is doubly true given by some to link him to radical Muslim.

    Yes, these are trivial matters when considering the job at hand, but you cannot deny that these will be significant in the election. Obama is a political dead man walking.
    • stonewaljacksn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Dude, are you serious?
      It's not that he's a smoker or his middle name is Hussein...rather that people like you who BUY INTO THAT ***** WHEN CNN TELLS YOU TO. You are the one allowing trivial meaningless things to affect your decision. Secondly,
      "Regardless of how good of a guy he is (debatable), or how good of a President he could be (strongly debatable)"
      ...so which candidates have already been President?...ummm NONE. So the same things are debatable for ALL candidates, so go ahead and stop being such a blind media sucker.
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Don't be so sensitive. I am not judging him. These are serious problems for him. If you seriously consider how the American public will react to them, you will understand that these are serious liabilities. Again, very trivial points, but they poison to a presidential candidate. When they are played out for the 1000'th time on television, they will have an impact, and the public will go to a safer candidate.
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1@stonewaljacksn

      To prove to you that such trivial matters significant, tell me the last generally perceived unattractive person to be elected president? How appearance matters in one's ability to govern makes no sense to me. But in today's world, appearance is one of the most important factors in being electable. My guess is that smoking and having a middle name like Hussein will not be accepted. Its a politically charged world, and any minor issue will be blown up, and many people will respond.
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Wow, I didn't know that Digg had the Obama police to mod down anything that would be perceived as negative. Yay.
    • phatt-matt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Smoking would be an issue if he were a Republican. The middle name thing...nobody cares. So far he has offered nothing but platitudes. It will be interesting to see him in the debates. He needs to offer a little substance to go along with the style.
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@phatt-matt

      The election is won or lost by swing voters. These are the people who must be courted. Smoking could easily turn them one way or another. Its a fickle game that is more marketing and brand management than anything else.
  • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I just recently watched the movie "Bobby" (Kennedy that is).
    NO candidate now a days even comes close to having peoples respect and admiration like he did.
    He genuinely carried about American. NOW all candidates are crap!!! all of them!!!
    Something HAS to change!

    just hearing the speeches he made about peace were amazing.
    now it's war war war!

    hell i just heard on NPR a few days ago that the candidates for the next presidential election have already spent 45 million dollars! WTF!!! that money could be spent a hell of a lot better.
    How far away are the elections!!?!?!
    Save the money it's going to be Bush again for another 4 more hellish years.
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Please tell me how Bush has personally impacted your life. When people say its hell, I wonder what he has actually done to him or her.
    • ruz322, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Save the money it's going to be Bush again for another 4 more hellish years.

      I find this hard to believe seeing that Bush is about to the end of his term limit. Check your politics book bud.
    • liuite, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6I am sure Bush has personally impacted some people's life directly. Those whose spouse, child, or parent has been sent away to fight a war that was declared based on "faulty intelligence"...when it was clearly a matter of believing what the administration choose to believe.

      For others...many bad things have happened during his watch...There have been directly links between him and the Bin Laden family...being Friends with those who ran Enron to the ground...connection between Cheney and halliburton. Bill Clinton admits to at least one mistake, yet Bush hasn't publicly admitted to any....
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1@liuite

      I was asking the guy who said that life under Bush was hellish for him.
    • Smuikas, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2With Blackwater and other quasi-military contracts on his side, are you really sure that's true?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d'%C3%A9tat
    • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ digboy99

      Do you know how badly my investment in the American dollar has become now!?

      Seriously do you!?!

      How much was the euro to dollar rate in 2000
      and what is it now?
      I REST MY CASE!
    • digboy99, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@shaolinpunks

      If you are investing in currencies, you must understand the risk that comes with currency arbitrage, and blaming any losses that you have incurred on a political official is naive. I assume your comment was based on real experience, and not simply a grasp at something you heard in the news.

      Anyhow, the value of the U.S. currency is influenced by factors that are beyond the pay scale of most on Digg, so lets just say that it is much more complicated than the impact that one George W Bush may have.
  • phatt-matt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I thought it was a pretty good ad. It reminded me of the Simpson's episode where Ned Flanders is the unquestioned leader of the universe.
  • ajkrik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Dude, first of all you ripped that off from Apple Corp. Second, you can't attribute it to Barack Obama. How are you different? You demonstrate that expressing you're opinion justifies foul play, just like every other megalomaniac wrapping themselves in some flag.
    Jeez, it's not even an original idea.
  • mindful, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I loved the ad. Right up until there was an Obama website at the end. As if Obama's any different than Shillery? They're both Globalist puppets who will only bring more war, bankrupt you and your family, propagate the bonus "war on terror", and keep draconian laws in place like the Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, etc. Vote for Ron Paul if you want to save America.
  • woodsjransom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I have been voting since 1971, NEVER have I seen politics so early for the presidency so early. I AM LOVING IT!!! I just hopes it catches on and everyone becomes part of the process. For the last 6 years I thought everyone was asleep.
  • spacebetween, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just don't see how this is creative at all.
  • tinker123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I was disappointed by the ad.

    It didn't have anything interesting to say and it could have had something interesting to say.

    Instead it had a lot of childish muck raking. The last 6 years have accelerated a lot of serious problems in the US. People are tired of this bull *****. They want to talk about the *issues* and what people will *DO* about them.

    I don't mean to offend anyone, but ***** this guy resigned from his job over this commercial. That is a high price and he paid for stupid pro wrestling style trash talk instead of getting an important message out.

    No, I do not support Clinton

  • Mipmap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hi Phil, there's a big dork in the White House - how about making a video about him.
  • stevebee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"If you make up a story about Obama going to a radical Muslim school as a child, that's mudslinging.'"
    Make up a story? Well this is what we do know about Barack:
    1 His father is a Muslim
    2 His stepfather is a Muslim
    3 He went to school in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation
    4 Barack was registered as a Muslim at that school
    5 Barack took classes in the Koran and went to mosque in Indonesia
    6 In Islam, once a Muslim ALWAYS a Muslim. You CANNOT resign.

    Believe me, they don't have the separation of church and state in Indonesia that we have here.
    • jesushchrist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@stevebee: you CANNOT resign from being a Muslim? So it's like belonging to the BMG Music Club?


  • douchenozzle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion by an old guard of the media who are still impressed by this interweb thing. It was a slick ad, no doubt, but for people of my generation (I was born in ***** 1984) it's no big deal. Part of it is the newness of this to the old guard, and the other part is thinking that the only way to reach young people is this false-hip ads. I, for one, would rather have the press talk about the real issues: the political records of obama and Clinton, as well as what they're really proposing.
  • dagamer34, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The darn thing got 2 MILLION views! Some TV shows don't even get that much publicity!
  • Thugacation, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Someone needs to make a pimp ad like this for John McCain. It would be against Clinton, of course.
  • JohnnyDiggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Politics aside - How is this video original?!

    The original 1984 ad was an amazing and effective ad for the demographic it targeted - it has even achieved cult status.

    Anybody with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker and a few hours after work can composite a box onto an already existing box...

    Lame...
    • monsterkody, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wrong, when the Olympic girl is spinning look at her shirt
  •  

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