Stop trying to make ‘woke’ happen
Stop trying to make ‘woke’ happen
Conservatives are using “wokeness” in thousands of digital ads and emails, but it’s unclear if people even know what they’re talking about.
In the press, in their social media posts, and on the campaign trail, Republican politicians and conservative groups are repeating one word over and over again in an attempt to own the libs: “woke.” Over the past several years, the word has made its way into thousands of digital ads, political fundraising emails, and stump speeches – but there’s little evidence to suggest it's resonating with just about anyone.
In this week’s FWIW, we’ll try to quantify the Republican frenzy over the woke wars.
But first…
By the numbers
FWIW, political advertisers spent $6.4 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Conservative media enterprise The Daily Wire continued to spend heavily on Facebook and Instagram last week, with most ad dollars going to Jeremy Boreing’s anti-woke chocolate bar scheme. Last week, they claimed to have sold 500,000 units.
The American Action Network, a group affiliated with House Republicans, is running a large-scale campaign on Facebook attacking Democrats on cuts to Medicare Advantage. They’re targeting over a dozen frontline House Dems with videos and graphics like these:
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $580,000 on Google ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
A whopping 23% of all political ad spending on Google last week was in Wisconsin, where liberal Janet Protasiewicz is running against conservative Daniel Kelly in the state’s Supreme Court election on April 4th. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler shared a good thread outlining the stakes of that race.
If you follow FWIW on Twitter, you would have already seen that there’s a group called “Move Oregon’s Border” that is running YouTube ads advocating for Idaho to take over Eastern Oregon. Yes, apparently, this is a real thing.
…and here’s a snapshot of political ad spending on Snapchat, year-to-date:
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From around the internet
Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) once again generated tons of social media praise for expertly and simply breaking down the SVB crisis on Instagram and TikTok, which hit 15 million views in under 24 hours.
Change.org has been allowing right-wing activists to use their platform and mobilize against the LGBT community.
Will AI replace political email fundraising templates? Well, it’s already happening.
The Wall Street Journal is spending tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads attacking electric vehicles.
The federal government is inching closer to banning TikTok outright unless the app’s Chinese parent company agrees to a sale. Last week, the heads of the FBI, CIA, NSA, and ODNI told a Senate committee that the app still posed major national security concerns.
2024 dispatch
FWIW, here’s how much money likely or confirmed 2024 presidential candidates have spent on Facebook + Google ads to date (3/5 -3/11):
On the digital campaign trail in the last week:
Former staffers detail how Ron DeSantis really enjoys eating pudding in public with his bare fingers, the Daily Beast reports.
Nikki Haley is running ads from former U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc’s Facebook page. Using different brands to advertise is a smart tactic that is not often deployed by Republican campaigns.
This machine placates fascists: Haley’s campaign is selling some pretty metal merch.
Glenn Youngkin launched new national Facebook ads focused on parents’ rights, fentanyl, and China.
Stop trying to make ‘woke’ happen
In the press, in their social media posts, and on the campaign trail, Republican politicians and conservative groups are repeating one word over and over again in an attempt to own the libs: “woke.” Over the past several years, the word has made its way into thousands of digital ads, political fundraising emails, and stump speeches – but there’s little evidence to suggest it's resonating with just about anyone.
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