MTV Targets Youth Vote with Lefty Ad During Video Music Awards

MTV really wants young people to head to the voting booth in droves. This would be a good thing if MTV execs didn’t blatantly schill for lefty ideology in their new “Power of 12” promo.

The new get-out-the-vote ad aired at the 2012 Video Music Awards, and hawked the slogan the “power of 45 million young people will decide the outcome of the 2012 election.” It featured a series of images projected behind one-word statements such as “Patriotism,” “Movement,” and “Marriage.”

Of course, MTV being what it is, “Patriotism” and “Marriage” weren’t accompanied by images harking to mom and apple pie. And “Movement” wasn’t a sunny reference to upward mobility.

“Marriage” was flashed across the screen while two men in tuxes nuzzled each other next to a wedding cake. While most Americans associate “Patriotism” with iconic visions of military men and women emotionally embracing their families, MTV chose to associate patriotism with what looked like a Trayvon Martin rally.

Occupy Wall Street was given its own spot behind the word “Movement.”

Predictably, MTV encouraged viewers to stay tuned for Barack Obama’s DNC address after the VMAs ended. Assuming that MTV knows its audience, here’s hoping this attempt to “Rock the Vote” falls flat.