Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 04:58 pm
On The Daily Show last night Jon Stewart, he of the supposed liberal media bias, took square aim at the supposedly liberal cable news network MSNBC for their terrible new slogan and ad campaign titled Move Forward. Stewart said, “It’s like when Nike came out with Just Do It, and Reebok answered with For Where Your Pants End. It’s just lame.”
Here is the video via The Daily Show:
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Stewart started a very non-Fox biased, “You have noticed that we talk a lot about the Fox News network on this show for two reasons. First, they’re terrible, terrible. Second, they’re the best. In cable news, Fox kicks everyone’s ass, higher ratings, stronger personalities, and most important a clear sense of purpose with a brand that everyone knows Fair and Balanced. The network’s essence distilled into a single phrase clearly conveying the message, your source for hyper partisan horseshit. Great branding, way better than CNN’s, “If you’re watching this, your flights been canceled.”
Stewart then discussed MSNBC’s new campaign. After playing one of the nonsensical clips in the campaign, he continued, “Well, maybe the print ads will help us understand this. Oh, there’s Rachel Maddow leaning forward, I guess, apparently having dropped something, and there’s Keith Olbermann leaning backwards. Is it really this hard? Is it? I don’t think I’m understanding. That’s what you’re bringing against Fox? Yeah, good luck. It’s like when Nike came out with Just Do It, and Reebok answered with For Where Your Pants End. It’s just lame.”
He said it would be a bad sign if your network president had to put out a video explaining the campaign then he played a video of MSNBC President Phil Griffin having to explain what the hell Lean Forward is really about America always changing for the better. Stewart added, “Yeah, America changing for the better. By the way is that CNN on the background? I guess you were at the airport. By the way, is that what MSNBC is all about? America always changing for the better, that’s what you’re promoting on your network. Have you told your staff that? He then played a clip of virtually every MSNBC personality expressing relentless negativity about America today.
Not only is Move Forward lame, but it doesn’t explain the product at all, and it makes no sense. This is a terrible campaign, and a complete waste of money. You know MSNBC paid some expensive advertising agency to come up with this campaign and focus group it to the max, and this is the best they came up with? I would love to either meet the focus groups that gave this a resounding thumbs up, or see the other alternatives that were turned down.
I’ve come up with three other possible campaign slogans that didn’t quite make the cut:
1). MSNBC: Nothing Says Sizzle Like Andrea Mitchell
2). MSNBC: Still 100% Latino Free
3). MSNBC: It Could Always Be Worse. You Could Be Watching CNN Right Now
For all of those people on the Right who demonize Jon Stewart and his “liberal show,” I’d like them to watch this segment. Stewart doesn’t have a political agenda. He does have an agenda about media accountability, but he doesn’t have a partisan agenda. It is endless frustrating to watch and read so many of the self righteous political pundits in this country try to attach a political motive to everything that Stewart does, for example, The Rally to Restore Sanity, which isn’t about politics, and won’t impact the midterm elections a couple of days later, no matter how myopically the talking heads analyze it.
With their constant thrust to fit him into their predefined political narrative, the media has proven Jon Stewart’s point for him. Cable news needs to break away from the entertainment that passes as news, and try to focus on returning to its original purpose of factual reporting and news gathering. This will never happen because of how profitable the current model is. Fox News makes a mountain of profit. MSNBC is one of the most profitable divisions in the whole NBC family. Even CNN despite their ratings struggle pulls in strong profits.
The news media has shifted from being run as a public service with a civic duty to report the news to a center for corporate profits. Jon Stewart has been the singular voice advocating for “restoring sanity” to our media. That’s what the 10/30 rally is about. It is about getting rid of lame, slick, branding, like MSNBC’s latest terrible misfire, and replacing it with programming that is informative. As Stewart himself has proven with his comedy show, it is possible to be entertaining and informative, but as long as news divisions are being run with only profit in mind, our news will continue to vanish from what are supposed to be news networks.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
