Political Web Video
Well, we probably weren't alone in thinking the current administration clearly would not get their act together with the healthcare.gov website. Surprisingly, we all found out on April 1st that after a surge of sign-ups on the last day for open enrollment, Obamacare met the White House's original target of 7 million people signing up, said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
The white house has been experimenting with a new media strategy to promote their goals, including celebrity interaction and what we're excited to brief you on: YouTube videos. Most famously of the web videos produced, the president himself sat down with Zach Galifianakis for an episode of his “Funny or Die” video series “Between Two Ferns.” Obama promoted health-care signup and proclaimed that HealthCare.gov’s glitches are a thing of the past, in a video that’s been viewed on more than 4 million computers. That's over half of the total number enrolled in the program.
The white house didn't limit their video presence to “Between Two Ferns", but also included an appearance by Michelle Obama on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” to tell viewers saying “now young people can get insurance for as little as $50 a month, less than the cost of gym shoes, and for the moms and dads who are out there worried about their kids, we want you to encourage your kids to sign up, for that peace of mind we all look for” — and declaring, of the infamously buggy HealthCare.gov, “It’s working!”
The first lady continued her message to young people and parents in a March 14 YouTube video with some moms of famous people — Jonah Hill, Adam Levine and Jennifer Lopez “We nag you because we love you,” Michelle Obama said at the end. “So go to HealthCare.gov and enroll today.”
We're excited to see that web video is playing an important and successful role in the momentous task of public healthcare registration. However, the beautiful nature of web video is that it's social, so we're not surprised to see that SNL put out a skit mocking the white houses efforts using this tool. Check it out here.