Missed Opportunities
February 24th, 2009 Comments

Public causes, public selves | Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA | Feb 2009
We plaster our cars with bumper stickers to say something about ourselves, what causes we identify with, what brands we support, who we affiliate ourselves with, a snapshot of how we want to present ourselves to the public. Jokes show off our sense of humour, logos, causes and organizations create some color around how we spend our time, attention, focus and money. * They represent who we are (or aspire to be) at a particular moment of time.
But what happens after that moment of time passes?
Bumper stickers for presidential campaigns have always mystified me: I understand why and how campaigners and supporters use them to market their campaigns and causes; but what do we do with them after the campaigns are over and the elections are decided?
More pointed and relevant: who is creating new Obama bumper stickers to replace the Obama ‘08 stickers? Why aren’t we seeing new bumper stickers for new causes explicitly created to be applied over the old Obama ‘08 stickers?
How is our focus shifting from winning an election to governing a country?
The election finishes, we celebrate or bemoan the results, and then we go back to our lives and lose sight: we’re human. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
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* BTW, Web badges aren’t that different from bumper stickers…
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ericajoh
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Taylor Davidson
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Anil
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Taylor Davidson
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JY
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kmikitson
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Taylor Davidson


