Don’t Ban Smoking, California
It’s hard to believe that we’re now seeing epic trailers for novels:
(via Nadja)
I’d love to watch the entire novel like this! There’s something so blatantly absurd about a medium entirely inappropriate for its content. (For something similarly wonderful, check out this read-aloud version of the US Tax Code.)
Interestingly, the Overton window is a political theory concept that is becoming a theme on this blog. Its premise is that the scale from absurd to self-evident is relative to the current mood of the collective consciousness. The “Overton window” is the range of political positions that are currently considered acceptable, or at least acceptable enough that people won’t laugh at you.
The political technique that emerges from this consideration is to inject opinions into public discourse which are more extreme than the position you favor. These extreme positions expand the Overton window. Now your favored position seems quite moderate.
This is, of course, exactly the strategy used by Glenn Beck.
The reason this strategy works is that most people gauge the range of others’ opinions and then choose an opinion in the middle of this. It’s like the story of two kids fighting over cake: Sam says he should get all of it, Paul says they should split it half and half, so the adult decides to compromise and gives Sam three-quarters.
Another strategy to expand the Overton window is to push hard in the other direction.
A while ago Matt Garcia and I wanted to launch a guerilla public policy campaign: Don’t Ban Smoking, California. Here’s Matt’s script for a TV spot:
Close up. Statue of Thomas Jefferson with a single tear rolling down cheek.
Voice Over (menacing):
In 2009, smoking tobacco inside restaurants and bars became illegal in Virginia, the heartland of tobacco country.
Zoom In
Recently, you may have seen ads that suggest smoking should be banned entirely in the state of California.
Smoking is a choice. Don’t let private interest groups bully the government into dictating your choice.
Don’t let Thomas Jefferson shed a tear for you, California.
Cut to: Man in California wilderness smoking. Panning Landscape shot.
Cut to: Jail cell slamming repeatedly from 4 different angles.
Cut to: Man in cell with face against bars.
Cut to: Thomas Jefferson’s face where man’s was, still crying.
Stay free California. Retain personal choice.
Now Matt swears that he’s actually seen ads and other propaganda to ban all tobacco smoking entirely in California. Any corroborators?
My interest in this campaign was to make people think that there are actually people mobilized against the (non-existent?) Ban Smoking movement. This would in turn strengthen the Ban Smoking movement, perhaps to the point where they would even succeed. I don’t really care about this policy but I think it would be interesting to see.
Of course, any time your plan involves people’s reactions and counter-reactions you’re in for unexpected consequences. Really the best you can hope to do is stir things up and make people scratch their heads.
Incidentally, it seems we’ve been beaten to the punch on our smoking campaign by the like-minded Billboard Liberation Front.
Well done!