Monday, October 5, 2015

Does my iTunes playlist say "Presidential Material" to you?

Over the weekend I was reading an article about how much money the Presidential Candidates are spending on Campaign Consultants to design playlists for them and it occurred to me that someone putting together a list of reasons why Donald Trump is leading in the polls could do worse than to start there...

So after I washed the taste of vomit out of my mouth, I started to think about how a conversation like this, between a Candidate and a Consultant, might actually go...

Consultant: OK, so any thoughts on songs you'd like to include?

Candidate: How about Open Letter (To a Landlord) by LIVING COLOUR? I love that song, plus it would show people that I care about minority housing issues.

Consultant: Absolutely not... that song portrays a highly problematic image of inner city life as being dominated by crime, drugs, and violence... Also, we need the Urban Hipster vote and we don't want to suggest that gentrification, per se, is a bad thing.

Candidate: ... OK, how about Here Comes the Sun by THE BEATLES? I mean everyone likes the sun.

Consultant: Oh no... no no no no no... Have you listened to Run For Your Life? HIGHLY problematic... we don't want to trigger victims of abusive relationships... no BEATLES...

Candidate: I don't want Run For Your Life, I want a DIFFERENT song by the BEATLES...

Consultant: Doesn't matter. Liking one song by the BEATLES could be taken as an endorsement of their whole catalog.

Candidate: ...

Consultant: Any other ideas?

Candidate: ... how about the theme song from PEANUTS?

Consultant: ...we'll get back to you... (shouts down the hall) BOB! SET UP A FOCUS GROUP!!!

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