Viral videos are the new tools for marketing.  It’s been used (and abused) this time ‘round for the elections!

Anyone who knows their social media knows that viral videos are a crucial way for achieving traffic that reaches critical mass — always cooking what they hope would be forwarded to the most of their friends, and so on.

Since you couldn’t turn on your television without seeing the elections, the makers of these viral videos ask, why not your internets?  Here’s 5 of the best viral videos that have been used in the elections for delivering Obama’s message … or a laugh, whichever comes first.

The Great Schlep
Who doesn’t find Sarah Silverman funny?  The queasy ones, of course!  In this viral video, she focuses on getting Jewish youth to get their grandparents to vote for change, while delivering cold hard truths that are the equivalent of a gut punch to “that” other guy’s campaign choices.

Obama Girl – I Got A Crush on Obama
Because everyone knows, girls in boy shorts declaring their love for a dude is every dude’s fantasy.  Why do we sexualize politicians?  To bring them down to our level, of course.  How many of us hasn’t fallen for a celebrity?  What’s so wrong with making a video ‘bout it, and then selling merch?  (the boy shorts)  Plus, I do have to say that it’s pretty catchy!

Barack-rollin’
Ugh.  Who isn’t tired of rickrolls?  It made Rick Astley famous again, hasn’t it?  Why shouldn’t it work on Obama?  This one has a neat twist though, it has various clips FROM Obama himself — making him sing the words to the song!  The guy that made this sure did take a lot of time compiling the clips and stitching them together into song.

Wassup 2008
If there was an origin story for viral videos, I’d say the original Wassup commercial’s up there.  It was catchy, different-yet-relatable, remixed and garnered a massive amount of attention.  This year, the original cast has been brought together to show just where they are in the present — still friends and yet affected by the realities that the nation is facing.  It ends with the guy in Iraq asking, “wassup, B?”  To which ‘B’ replies, “Change.  That’s what’s up.”

The Vet Who Didn’t Vet
Okay, so this isn’t much about Obama, but it shows, in Seuss-ian style how things could be bad-wrong.  We could, of course, get lead by W. Bush, with lipstick on.  There’s no limit for the creativity of these supporters, and if you get support from enthusiastic people like the makers of these videos, then you’re probably doing something right.

Okay, so that’s my list of top viral videos about Obama — will he win?  Will there be change?  Will all his campaign promises be true?  We’ll have to decide over the weekend for who our candidates will be.  Regardless of your candidate choice, it’s still an important civic duty to vote.  Make it count.

Know any other viral videos for Obama, or McCain … or Palin?  Share them and your thoughts over @ The Jabber.

Anyone can be caught in the wrong moment by just about anyone.  It’s funniest when the whole country is watching.

In recent weeks politicians have been caught trying to impersonate zombies, being moose in headlights and just being plain weird.  So what I have here are a couple of un-photoshopped images of politicians in their brightest moments.  Not that they’re being bright about it, but the people watching can come up with any explanation in their boundless imaginations as to what the heck they were thinking at the exact moment the photos were taken.

French president Sarkozy readies his fists. - Can’t have one of these without Bush.  I mean, honestly, for the last 8 years, he’s been made fun of, impersonated and whatnot, but hey, this isn’t PURELY about him — even the French get it!  In this image Sarkozy looks to be readying his fists … to probably box President Bush.  Now wouldn’t that be a riot if he did go through with it?!

Palin winks! – During the debates, Palin was clearly winking at the camera, like she was sharing an inside joke with one of the viewers — was it something like, “hey, I memorized what you told me to say, John, people are *wink* buying this, right?”  Did she find out that several male Republicans find her attractive and was using it to convince them that she was making sense?  Well, check out this video below if you’re not convinced it was just one expression.

McCain, “puh-leeeeeasssse!” – If there’s anything about McCain, he’s constantly entertaining.  He makes weird faces, and they’re just funny.  I mean, if you were Maverick, you’d know pretty much anything and everything — you’ve got experience, after all.  In this image, McCain sorta demonstrates that he looks like he knows something that you don’t, by retorting to a, “that one?  Puh-lease!  I knew about it before you even thought about it!”

Obama fan stare. – Now here’s a weird one.  An Obama supporter gives her candidate a weird look — and by weird, I mean weird-weird, not the sorta-good-weird look.  Was she thinking, “if I stare at you long enough, will you be president?”  Will Obama supporters share this look by next week?  I hope not, that’d make for a really awkward wait by the voting booth.

McCain, McCain, McCain. – Some have dubbed him a “zombie” for this one, or, the less eloquent, but hits the mark: “MCCAIN HAET OBAMA BUTT.”  This is still my favorite image from this or any election campaign, really.  Patriotic viewers of the third debates have stood by their computers, churning photoshopped versions of this image less than an hour after the debates were over.  Which just goes to show — people can spot zombies when they see one.

Well, there you have it — those’re my takes on several images from this elections.  Can you come up with captions for these?  In my opinion, the best images to make captions of are the ones that did happen in real life — makes you think: “what were they thinking?!”

Are there any newer booboos caught on cam?  Share them over @ The Jabber.

According to Split.Id, “We poke fun and sexualize our leaders (and potential leaders) to hold them on the level at which they actually are -sexual beings, human beings.”

With the elections growing nearer, some clever people decided to “humanize” the candidates and cash in.  No one can resist a good risqué joke — unless it’s too much of course.  Here’s a little comparison between a good sexy joke (the kind that hints at it) and a bad one.  (the one that goes too far.)

Good one!
Palin Panties — Okay, so we’ve had unattractive political leaders before — now it’s prime time to make money off of their image, since one’s a beauty queen.  It should be easy, right?  Aside from the action figure, we get — Palin Panties.  The line is even called, Palin in your Pants.  Which is funny because it’s ironic; it could work like a chastity belt for that cute Democrat boy.  Who knows?

Too far!
Palin Panties — Well, there’s these two designs that go too far.  The first one’s her now-widely-known portrait … but wait, what’re those words underneath?  VPILF?  Double whammy!  Creepy and sexist!  The next one’s a silhouette from that infamous photoshopped picture of her in a bikini, while sporting a gun.

Good one!
Obama boxer-briefs — Designer Andrew Christian decided that he would show his support for the Democratic party by crating the putting the image of Obama on a pair of designer boxer-briefs.  Not only does it offer dudes ample support to fake a more shapely butt, $1 from every purchase is donated for the benefit of the Democratic party.  Which is a weird way of showing support, but the thought is there.

Too far!
Obama booty shorts — From the site, “Get the shorts made famous by Obama Girl. These screen printed microfiber boy shorts will make everyone know that you have a crush on a certain presidential candidate.”  If you’ve seen the “I have a crush on Obama” video — you’d certainly know that these were involved in a scene with girls dancing in front of a mirror, clinging on their butts oh-so-tightly.  Movies have proven of course that obsession is unhealthy.  And a little creepy — which leads to the next one:

Good one!
Obama Head O State “plaything” — It’s a dildo.  The site even alludes to the fact, but the images are pretty clear — this is another creepy, obsessive thing.  Obviously designed as a novelty item — I mean, are they really expecting Obama girls to use this?  The box looks like one of those fake boxes, the ones where it shows something else instead of the gift inside?  But wait, there’s a clear area and you can see Obama’s likeness sculpted as the head of this gold-colored “plaything.”  While it does go a little too far, it still falls short of …

TOO FAR!
Nailin Paylin — Hustler’s now-in-post-production Palin-inspired porno.  To quote: “The faux Sarah is Lisa Ann, who “will be nailing the Russians who come knocking on her back-door.” In another scene — a flashback — “young Paylin’s creationist college professor will explain a ‘big bang’ theory even she can’t deny!””  There was news about a certain Craigslist post, looking for Palin-lookalikes to shoot for an adult video.  Well, I think this is it.  She’s a grandmother, for chrissakes!  With the high profile of the VP candidate, there’s this probably low-production porno that analogs her.  Too far.

Think things have gone too far on the merchandising front?  Or are the politicians themselves going too far with all the hatin’?  Let your voice be heard on The Jabber!  (*click!*)

There are several ways to make the younger ones (the future voters) interested in politics.  Try to explain what politics is to them straight-up, and you’re definitely not speaking in their language.  Things should be light, informative and not dripped in rumor/speculation sauce.  For me, funny toys are the way to go.

Tv makes it harder to understand politics still; it starts from home.  What your family believes in, you’re most likely to believe in too.  So for the kids, here’s a little list of political toys — a little tongue-in-cheek approach to introducing them to the future leaders.

Plus, it might cultivate their sense of humor — they won’t aspire to be president!  They’ll want to be the next Jon Stewart!

The Obama Action Figure – “Like countless others out there, we’ve been inspired by the meteoric rise of Barack Obama and his campaign. In a time when America so desperately needed a hero, along came a man to show us a brand new vision of what America and the world could be in the 21st century. In many ways, Obama is the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a superhero… someone who has literally inspired millions of people simultaneously to step past fear, to be brave enough to hope and to go past cynicism and imagine what we could be if we were at our best.”

The Hillary Nutcracker – Is it still applicable?  Of course it is!  Even though she and Bill are now best-buds with Obama, she was still tough enough to take on the elections herself.  It takes a lot of courage and inner strength to be able to crack those nuts open.  (Plus, I’m pretty sure the Clintons have a good sense of humor.)  So why not crack some nuts open with Hillary?

The McCain Action Figure – Touted as an action figure with principles, (I mean, he’s wearing a suit!)  this one’s from the makers of the Obama toy — which means he’s done in the same scale as Obama, or to tower over those pesky COBRA terrorists.

BONUS!  If figures aren’t your thing, then maybe the McCain mask is cool for the kids — I mean, Halloween’s just around the corner — what’s scarier than a republican going door-to-door to take your candy?

The Sarah Palin Action Figure – Merely weeks from the VP announcement, Hero Builders made this action figure that depicts the lovely governor in a trenchcoat.  Take that off and you have a superhero in a schoolgirl outfit.  The people can’t seem to get enough of her, so I’m imagining these are flying off the shelves, or, well, the virtual shelves where she can be obtained from, online.

Captain Obama Bobblehead – Obama can nail a speech any day of the week;  His speeches are so compelling, that even non-Americans are convinced he’d make a great president.  What’s the next best thing to having a superhero president?  Having a funny, talking bobblehead version of him, of course!  Plus, if you need that little push in trying something new, press the talk feature and the toy shouts, “YES, WE CAN!”

This made me laugh — McCain attacked 18 year old Chelsea Clinton in 1998 now says Palin’s family & kids are off limits.

That was horribly mean back then, and now, what’s he known for?  Attack ads!  When someone attacks him, he can’t even take it.  Know what can beat him?  Maybe if he faces off with himself.

Wait, he’s done that already: