#voteman

[monksp]

The EU has way better get out the vote programs than we do.

[jadedturtle]

You better watch out,

You better vote,

Or Voteman will come for you.

[trexer111]

[mathiasmlbk-blog]

The Voteman Case.

Huge but exhaustively predictable debacle about a sexist advertisement in Danish media these days. Supposedly in an attempt to raise awareness of about the coming election in the European Parliament, the Danish Parliament released this ad video about ‘Voteman’ - an ironic superhero-ish character who has dedicated his life to getting people to vote in the elections for European Parliament:

It caused an uproar in the silos of public discussion, most intensely perhaps  among Danish femininists (Dansk Kvindesamfund). The primary critique is this:

Has the Parliament stooped to a level where they have to resort to crass sexism, violence and gender stereotypes about men and women in order to get its messages through based on the old cliché that 'sex sells'? (Facebook, May 12)

From this feminist perspective, the main problem is the opening scene (which is also youtube random screengrab) where the main character Voteman is surrounded by topless or naked women performing fellatio on him.

One way to critique this video is on inscribed audience. My friend Agnete made me aware of the fact that some viewers found that they were being addressed as lazy, apathetic and even stupid.

Another point to be made about it, is the predictability of the reception it got in public. Even before it was properly released, the left-wing and established feminist groups were criticizing that the Danish Parliament of all institution could be the author of this. Strategic scandal Rhetoric It initially took the form of what I'll call strategic rhetoric of scandal. Here someone releases an ad that breaches public norms of gender equality, sexuality or social equality, which generates uproar and wide commentary and often apologia, and in some cases the retraction of the ad. The result of this kind of strategic scandal rhetoric that a product or project receives way more attention that the would if it didn't provoke norms.

As I was discussing this with a friend yesterday, he argued that the video in the end came off as a (unintended?) critique the political rhetoric circulation about the EU at the moment.

[reaperneko]

Voteman - EP 2014 Seriously, go and vote if there is an election or he comes and KICK YOUR ASS! ;p

[amaurytreguer]

Voteman to get young people to vote in the European Parliament election.

[eu2014-blog]

The European elections have begun yesterday!

Don't forget to vote! Voteman is watching...

[lion-gubl]

VOTEMAN There's a palpable anxiety hanging over Europe as much of the continent prepares for upcoming E.U. parliamentary elections. Far-right, Euroskeptic parties are surging in polls and may capture a significant number of seats. The crisis in Ukraine has exposed, in some people's minds, the geopolitical feebleness of the bloc. And concerns about unemployment and the health of national economies remain entrenched. So maybe the bureaucrats in the Danish parliament's E.U. Information Center can be forgiven for producing one of the more bizarre "get out the vote" videos ever made, in a bid to get more young people thinking about what's at stake in Brussels. The Voteman cartoon, released yesterday and summarily withdrawn today, depicts a mustachioed, muscular, leather-clad protagonist bashing and beheading his way through an apathetic voting public. It also opens with a pretty raunchy, gratuitous animated porn scene and then segues to Voteman emerging from his island lair, riding two dolphins. (You can watch the video here, but consider yourself warned: It is definitely NSFW.) You see, as Voteman learned earlier in life, the European Union runs policy on everything from agricultural subsidies to how much cinnamon should be in your buns. If you don't get why that's important, young voter, well, Voteman will rip your head off or slap you around anyway. "A high turnout is important, so you use every method you can," said Morgens Lykketoft, the speaker of Parliament, as the video went viral. But he would later backtrack: "Many people whose opinions I deeply respect have perceived the cartoon from the E.U. Information Center as far more serious and offensive than it was intended -- and believe it talks down to young people," he said after Parliament pulled the video from its YouTube and Facebook accounts. Denmark's turnout in 2009 E.U. elections neared 60 percent, much higher than the European average. If 2014 participation tops that, one wonders whether the Danes have Voteman to thank.