Matthew Krouse Down the tube
Election time is bringing out the best of what local television producers have to offer, allowing for some boundary-breaking exercises.
Suddenly there’s a dearth of new programmes to watch, not all of them studio interrogations of the parties that will ultimately represent folks who decide to make their mark on the big day. Obviously the youth are a prime target for interest groups concerned with the role the new generation will play in the burgeoning democracy.
Overcoming youthful voter apathy is high on their agendas and, as we’re seeing, they’re employing satire, celebrities and now advertising formulae to spur young people on to heading for the polls on June 2.
E.tv’s youth campaign kicked in last week with a concept borrowed from previous ones run in the United Kingdom and the United States. While these functioned under the name Rock the Vote, ours is called Take Control!. A joint initiative of e.tv, Mail & Guardian Television, ABC Ulwazi radio training facility and Ya Rona Productions, it takes on some of the broader issues affecting youngsters in this election time.
Take Control! is a series of 20 short advert-like interventions dealing with such topics as corruption, the ongoing schools crisis, gender equality and family values. E.tv began broadcasting these on May 10 in random order, four times a day.
A showreel of five of these reveals that director Guy Spiller – known mostly for his commercials and documentaries – has adopted a cheeky approach. He’s opted for mystery rather than blatancy, to bring relevance to a subject that isn’t automatically trendy or enticing to the young.
It’s an interesting age, eighteen, for those who are deciding whether or not to vote. Democracy is only one of their preoccupations, along with fashion, music and love. Not surprising then that these are some of the linking themes that the campaign integrates in order to be meaningful to those who, in politics, are often overlooked.
In one a dog sits in a lounge, a R20 note hanging from its mouth. The accompanying slogan reads: “Only dogs take bribes.” Another is set at a wedding, only the couple happens to be gay – the slogan here is: “Live and let live.”
Perhaps the best aspect of these initial short films is the manner in which they have integrated youth concerns with current affairs, and issues dealt with in the Bill of Rights.
There’s a strange irony in the fact that election day is happening so close to Youth Day on June 16. More ironic is the fact that the country’s youth, once the most militant and motivated on earth, now need to be coerced into casting their votes.
Take Control! will also be integrated into print and radio, with 20 commercials being aired on 40 stations. Ultimately, it is the effort to communicate across the generations that wins here. The biggest worry, though, is that once youths have been motivated, they will begin to discover how out of touch most politicians are with the issues affecting young lives.