Why JibJab.com Is the Political Force of the Future

What makes people vote? Tax issues? Terrorism? A desire to participate in the political process? 

How about: A viral video cartoon.

The JibJab.com spoofers are back! Their humorous e-card web site just released a new video: “Time For Some Campaigin’,” and it’s ripping 'round the web. 

Set to the tune of Bob Dylan’s 60s anthem, “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” this animated e-card features a banjo-strumming President Bush moving out of the White House and the presidential candidates vying for his seat in the Oval Office. Lyrics include:

“Citizens gather from far and near
For a ritual we practice every four years
Where we promise you anything you want to hear
…then we turn around and poke you in the rear”

And the animation is just as irreverant: John McCain totters through a geriatrics ward, Hillary Clinton hoists a “Hillary 2012” sign, and Barack Obama frolics atop a pink-maned unicorn alongside bunnies and fawns. 

The message is being lapped up more than most speeches: JibJab.com logged 1.2 million viewers on Wednesday and by Thursday was is in the “multiple millions” due to streams from sites like MSN [MSFT] and Yahoo [YHOO], says co-creator Gregg Spiridellis, who started JibJab.com with his brother, Evan. (By way of comparison, in a non-election environment, the site draws between 2 million to 7.5 million unique viewers a month, he says.)

Everyone likes a good laugh at a public figure’s expense, but does what’s in your inbox really influence the election?

“It definitely becomes part of the conversation,” says Jason Reich, editor-in-chief of the comedy blog 236.com, the site behind the “McCain Girls” and “Swift Kids” video (1.9 million and 2.2 million views respectively).

Comedy has always been a way to mediate messages and viral video is just the newest step, and a force to be reckoned with, in the campaigns. (It may be too early to tell the effects of viral video because YouTube [GOOG] debuted in 2005, after the Bush-Kerry election.) But as the success of all these spoofs suggests, Reich says, “entertainment’s leading the way.”

Keli Goff, political analyst and author of Party Crashing, says these videos put people and issues on the radar in a way that doesn’t originate from the corporate media or campaigns themselves. “What [JibJab's ‘Time For’] will probably do is get a group of people to sit around and watch it repeatedly,” she says, and spark conversations about whose volunteering for which candidates and when there’s a campaign meetup happening next.

But others aren’t so sure about the impact of online vids.  “I don’t know that you can look at viral video and say that this is going to have a unique impact on the political process,” says Mike Hudack, founder of Blip.tv, an internet television network composed of video shorts.

While viral video does have the potential to reach people who otherwise do not seek out political commentary and “it’s valuable for that reason,” Hudack says, he also thinks it is nearly impossible to ascertain if a few chuckles over Bam and Mac will actually affect how many people go behind the curtains of the voting booth. 

JibJab.com’s founders say their intention isn’t to draw – or detract—voters. “Our mission is just to make people laugh,” says Spiridellis. “We don’t have any overriding altruistic mission to get people involved and certainly not to support one side over the other.  It’s more to get our brand out there and get people laughing.”

Jibjab.com spoofs are purposefully nonpartisan, he continues. “If you put something out there that lets everybody laugh together, that’s the way to create the most success in terms of” web site traffic.  And Spiridellis says he has not heard about anyone anecdotally being swayed toward or against a candidate by their videos, either. “We always say if people look at our video and make any decision about the candidates one way or another, we’d be really terrified.”  JibJab.com’s audience is “people who are informed elsewhere” about the politicians, he says. 

But the founders could just be coy about their influence.  Voters are “treating the Internet as no different from a town hall,” says Goff.  Adds Reich, “already you see candidate’s taking a cue” from the buzz over online videos, pointing out that Obama announced that he would not accept public funding through a video. 

Stay tuned as to whether or not a McCain hobbling with a walker or Obama riding a unicorn sways a voter one way or another – and for the next JibJab.com video, too.