Difference between revisions of "1948: Campaign Fundraising Emails"

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(Explanation)
(The emails)
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|'''Donate now.''' It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we…
 
|'''Donate now.''' It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we…
|This is the classic formula, and may be a real example. It is always "crunch time" during a campaign (at least between filing for candidacy and election day), and campaigns are always "low" on cash relative to the unlimited funding they would prefer.  The ends of financial reporting periods, often at midnight, are conflated with "deadlines" of significant consequence.  Further, the donation requested is less about the actual money - even if $5 each from several thousand voters can add up - but to get a donor to have their money placed on a candidate, making it more likely that donor will vote for the candidate (via encouraging {{w|Sunk cost#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy|the "sunk cost" fallacy}}).
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|This is the classic formula for campaign fundraising emails, and may be a real example. It is always "crunch time" during a campaign (at least between filing for candidacy and election day), and campaigns are always "low" on cash relative to the unlimited funding they would prefer.  The ends of financial reporting periods, often at midnight, are conflated with "deadlines" of significant consequence.  Further, the donation requested is less about the actual money - even if $5 each from several thousand voters can add up - but to get a donor to have their money placed on a candidate, making it more likely that donor will vote for the candidate (via encouraging {{w|Sunk cost#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy|the "sunk cost" fallacy}}), or to allow the targeting of future messages based on how engaged the recipient is with the campaign.
 
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|'''Donate $35.57 now!''' Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the…
 
|'''Donate $35.57 now!''' Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the…

Revision as of 10:03, 5 February 2018

Campaign Fundraising Emails
The establishment doesn't take us seriously. You know who else they didn't take seriously? Hitler. I'll be like him, but a GOOD guy instead of…
Title text: The establishment doesn't take us seriously. You know who else they didn't take seriously? Hitler. I'll be like him, but a GOOD guy instead of…

Explanation

Many politicians and organizations in the United States have taken to using email to conduct aggressive fundraising drives seeking campaign contributions. Signing a petition or expressing interest in a cause can lead to being added to a myriad of mailing lists for similar groups, all looking for support. This comic shows a caricature of the kind of inbox that can result from this. The emails get more and more absurd as the list goes on. For example, the last one combines a request for campaign contributions with the infamous 'Nigerian prince' advance-fee scam phishing scheme.

The emails

E-mail Body Explanation
Donate now. It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we… This is the classic formula for campaign fundraising emails, and may be a real example. It is always "crunch time" during a campaign (at least between filing for candidacy and election day), and campaigns are always "low" on cash relative to the unlimited funding they would prefer. The ends of financial reporting periods, often at midnight, are conflated with "deadlines" of significant consequence. Further, the donation requested is less about the actual money - even if $5 each from several thousand voters can add up - but to get a donor to have their money placed on a candidate, making it more likely that donor will vote for the candidate (via encouraging the "sunk cost" fallacy), or to allow the targeting of future messages based on how engaged the recipient is with the campaign.
Donate $35.57 now! Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the… While fundraisers will try and work out how to gain as much money as possible, they would never explain this to their supporters. Such a precise amount would come about as a result of running the numbers through a computer simulation, and the obvious lack of humanity behind the calculated dollar amount would probably be offputting to a lot of would-be supporters.
Help. Our campaign made some mistakes and we need a lot of money ASAP. Any kind, but cash is… This email is honest about the campaign's incompetence, but is not likely to get much sympathy except from those already sympathetic to the candidate. Any campaign reduced to this level has probably already lost, though. The reference to "cash" lacks sufficient context to be clear; if the full message requests that recipients send cash that would raise several red flags (suggesting that the campaign's finances are in such disarray that it cannot process checks, credit cards, etc in a timely manner, and raising concerns that cash could be stolen or otherwise diverted more readily than other forms of payment).
Washington is broken. When I win, I'll look those other senators in the eye and tell them: "Jobs." Then I… This may be another real example. This appeal to emotion promises specific action that is unlikely to accomplish much, and is probably unlikely to happen even if the candidate wins, while suggesting the candidate vaguely cares about issues of importance to most voters, as measured by the polls, but may not be genuine or fulfilled. The mere statement of "jobs" as a meaningful political point is patently ridiculous, especially since no context or intent is provided with it.
Hopeless. It's bad. Really bad. If you don't chip in now, the darkness spreading across the land will… This is a favorite of moral campaigns, on both sides of a debate. Grand statements about evil and corruption taking over the country if the campaign does not get enough support are common, but they are extremely biased and dramatic.
As the first woman to fly a fighter jet through our state's formerly all-male university, I learned… Normally one would be the first from a university to do something, not the first to achieve something involving the university itself. Flying a plane through a university is risky at the very least, and depending on the definition of "through" here, could imply destruction of buildings or the plane itself, which might paint the candidate in an irresponsible light. May also refer to the viral 2017 Congressional campaign ad of Amy McGrath, the first female Marine to fly an F-18 in combat.
We're broke. No paid staff. No ads. And the cafe has told us to stop using their WiFi to send fundraising… This campaign tactic attempts to appeal to the reader's sympathy by describing financial struggles and poverty, but said tactics may instead make the movement look pathetic and poorly-organized, especially because the group is apparently so poor, they can't continue sending emails to ask for funding.
When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of… The reader would expect that the writer expressed surprise because they weren't expecting Amy to run for Congress, but the actual reason is because they didn't know what Congress was. If the aim is indeed fundraising, as the comic's title would imply, this message is very likely to give very poor results. While the familiar tone could be a communication strategy (although you might want to look serious and professional when asking for money), the author openly states not knowing what the campaign was about until recently, which would make potential donors doubt that their money would be put to good use.
Are you familiar with the Dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch? His work illustrates my opponent's plan for… The works of Hieronymus Bosch are famous for depictions of Hell and Limbo as brutal places of highly imaginative torments, which the sender implies would be similar to the country under the opponent's plan.
Being a single mom running a small business while going to law school while being deployed to Iraq taught me… Each of these are typical "inspiring" stories for someone to bring up once they reach success, to show how they have persevered and come out on top, but it is extremely unlikely that all of these responsibilities and hardships would be burdening one person at the same time, and said person surviving all of these is even less likely.
I will lead the fight against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I… A promise that starts with more normal and relatable issues, but then moves to the controversial topic of climate change (with the implication that damaging the climate is the goal), and the universally ridiculous idea that children are an issue that needs to be contained. The fight "against our children" may be a reference to a popular Bushism.
Wow. Have you seen this video of the squirrel obstacle course? Incredible! Anyway, I'm running because I… A typical form of clickbait. (Don't read another table entry until you've followed that link! Reference #10 will shock you.)
Outrageous. Granted, this was a few years ago, but did you hear what President Ford said about… When a politician makes an offensive comment, it's common for the politician's opponents to send out fundraising emails pointing out the politician's offensiveness as a reason to give money to an opponent. Here, the sender's reaction and e-mail fundraising effort appears to be unusually delayed, as it refers to an alleged comment by Gerald Ford, whose term as President of the United States ended in 1977 and who died in 2006.
Whoops. Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for… The email apologises for running months of attack ads against American actor Tom Hanks. Hanks is generally a popular and uncontroversial figure with a reputation for being nice and likable in person[citation needed], making him an unusual target for attack ads. This implies that the sender does not even know who their opponent is, and has mistakenly targeted the wrong person, demonstrating some significant ignorance and incompetence.
They say we can't win—that we're "underdogs" with "no money" who "lost the election last week." But they don't… May refer to Roy Moore's attempts to overturn his loss in the December 2017 election for one of Alabama's US Senate seat, which came about a month before this comic and made national headlines. After the initial election count had him losing, he demanded a recount. That initial count said he had lost by a large enough margin that Alabama law required him to pay up front for a recount, and his campaign did not have enough funds available.
Our campaign's only chance is to seduce Jennifer ActBlue, heir to the ActBlue fortune. For that, we need a fancy… This e-mail alludes to ActBlue, a political action committee that collects donations online for Democratic candidates. In reality, there is no ActBlue family nor any "Jennifer ActBlue" who is the heir to its fortune; the name ActBlue comes from the words "act" and "blue", referring to the color currently associated with the Democratic Party.
Doom. Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed, like rain on… This is an excerpt from Tolkien's poem Lament of the Rohirrim, appearing in The Two Towers:

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?

Warmest greetings. I am the crown prince of Nigeria. I am running for Congress because I believe that… The opening line is designed to sound like spam for an Advance-fee scam. These scams typically involve impersonating someone rich, often a Nigerian prince, who claims to be in trouble and promises to share a large sum of money if the victim helps him by sending a small fee in advance electronically. However, the second sentence of this email switches to sounding like a political fundraising email instead of an outright scam. This is either to establish a degrading comparison between flagrant scams and fundraising emails, or just to create a bait-and-switch joke.
The establishment doesn't take us seriously. You know who else they didn't take seriously? Hitler. I'll be like him, but a GOOD guy instead of… (title text) A candidate who compares himself to Hitler, even when promising to be GOOD instead, will probably not get many votes. The title text does however conform to Godwin's law.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[An e-mail inbox window is displayed. On each line appears an illegible e-mail address and a checkbox.]

Donate now. It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we…
Donate $35.57 now! Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the…
Help. Our campaign made some mistakes and we need a lot of money ASAP. Any kind, but cash is…
Washington is broken. When I win, I'll look those other senators in the eye and tell them: "Jobs." Then I…
Hopeless. It's bad. Really bad. If you don't chip in now, the darkness spreading across the land will…
As the first woman to fly a fighter jet through our state's formerly all-male university, I learned…
We're broke. No paid staff. No ads. And the cafe has told us to stop using their wifi to send fundraising…
When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of…
Are you familiar with the dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch? His work illustrates my opponent's plan for…
Being a single mom running a small business while going to law school while being deployed to Iraq taught me…
I will lead the fight against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I…
Wow. Have you seen this video of the squirrel obstacle course? Incredible! Anyway, I'm running because I…
Outrageous. Granted, this was a few years ago, but did you hear what President Ford said about…
Whoops. Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for…
They say we can't win- that we're "underdogs" with "no money" who "lost the election last week." But they don't…
Our campaign's only chance is to seduce Jennifer ActBlue, heir to the ActBlue fortune. For that, we need a fancy…
Doom. Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed, like rain on…
Warmest greetings. I am the crown prince of Nigeria. I am running for Congress because I believe that…


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Discussion

can someone make a table with all the emails and an explanation column? I'm shit at formatting. DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;-- (talk) 16:38, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Relevant username? 172.68.58.83 17:42, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
Actually more based on Exploits of a mom DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;-- (talk) 15:05, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

ActBlue is a political action committee aimed at helping people on the internet raise money for the Democratic party - there is no Jennifer ActBlue Heir to the ActBlue fortune. 172.68.174.40 17:14, 29 January 2018 (UTC)Daniel Macintyre

That's what Jennifer wants you to think.162.158.122.12 17:23, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

It's interesting to note that for three of the emails, the subject isn't bolded, indicating that those emails were read. All three refer to female candidates JamesCurran (talk) 17:20, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Are we sure those are subject lines? I don't usually write or get emails where the subject line flows seamlessly into the contents like this. (Not sure what else they could be, of course.) Also, the lack of bold text could indicate an email without a subject line. 162.158.78.220 18:54, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
I had actually initially taken the bold text as having being tweaked to emphasize those words, or that they were bold in the email, and that the emails which didn't were actual interesting and legitimate messages. :) Of course that would leave these emails without subjects, so the bold text being subjects makes more sense, and the lack of bold is just without a subject. As for part of the email starting after the subject, I think I've seen that. I know different email providers and programs show things differently. I have my email setup to only show subjects when I'm in my Inbox like this, but I've also seen ones where there's a couple of lines of preview. Perhaps Randall just has his to show only 1 line of subject and preview. If I cared about having a preview in my Inbox I'd set it that way, to save space. NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
The default Gmail inbox view looks more or less like this - albeit there's a dash separating subject and body, and if there's no subject it displays "(no subject)". 141.101.98.244 17:08, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm guessing the $35.57 may have been related to a recent Jimquisition episode focusing on this ad: https://youtu.be/Tu3rwf27VRE Odysseus654 (talk) 21:13, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Some of these scenarios are especially hilarious to me!

1) When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of...
Who needs to know anything when we have Wikipedia?
2) I will lead the fight against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I...
Won't someone please think of the children? (Those little !#$!%#^$^s!) [Edited slightly, because they are really horrid when they have at-signs in their expletives.]
3) Whoops. Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for...
Yay, automation!
4) Our campaign's only chance is to seduce Jennifer Actblue, heir to the Actblue fortune. For that, we need a fancy...
That is just what we need: a candidate with a fresh approach. Will he get slapped?

108.162.216.154 21:30, 29 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko [email protected]

The wiki screwed up your nice legible formatting, LOL! Looks great in the edit box, a little confusing once submitted (I've noticed the wiki ignores a single New Line, unless followed by a colon) NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
I have just repaired the formatting. The wiki had also interpreted my faux expletive as an E-mail address (and protected it). Mr. Munroe needs to do a strip on how computers "help" us like this. 108.162.216.154 06:23, 30 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko [email protected]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the wording of the message starting "Hopeless" is deliberately written in the style of Donald Trump's tweets? 108.162.250.41 02:01, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Right now there's a double Incomplete message, with one asking for contact information in case someone wants to actually donate to one of these campaigns... Is it just me, or does this in fact NOT IDENTIFY ANYBODY? As in, there's nobody to donate TO! NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Note that the "Doom" email says "Where is the horse and the rider" not "Where now the horse and the rider," and also skips several lines in the middle of the poem. It's quoting the Peter Jackson movie, not the book. 172.69.70.185 05:43, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

It looks like you're correct (as indicated on the linked TolkienGateway page). I do wonder what the sender's address was supposed to be, though. Perhaps [email protected]? ;-) --IByte (talk) 10:30, 31 January 2018 (UTC)
And the beginning of Tolkien's ubi sunt, and the first question of Doom are both translations of the Wanderer 'Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago?' --User:Richardelguru

I know what Ford's controversial comment was: it was characterised by The New York Times as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD". 162.158.165.190 07:09, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

The comment about the establishment not taking Hitler seriously might be referring to that "the powers that be" in pre-Nazi Germany thought they could control Hitler and use his popularity to their advantage. We all know how this plan worked out. --LordHorst (talk) 10:16, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Having read it before, I still laughed more at the linked "Bushism" Wikipedia page than at today's comic. 172.68.25.208 12:29, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Having that my college does some fund-raising events, I have seen some of the mails like this being displayed on my lecturer's laptop, so I find it relatable.Boeing-787lover 13:24, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm trying to figure out what the typo was in the Tom Hanks attack ads. Perhaps they attacked Big Hanks instead of Big Banks? -- 172.68.34.46 17:50, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Or perhaps the opponent's real name was Tim Hanks, or Tom Henks, or something else similar? -- 108.162.215.148 22:10, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

The "They say we can't win ..." email may also be a reference to this SNL campaign ad parody with Will Ferrell and Chris Parnell, which takes the opposite approach ... Ferrell has already won the election, but insists on continuing to hound his opponent about the questions he'd raised in his attack ad, continuing the sarcastic use of quotes ("He says the election is 'over' and that he 'lost'") often seen in real attack ads and the parody here. Daniel Case (talk) 23:12, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

I think it's more of a third-party kind of thing - "They [the pundits, the two main parties, etc.] say we can't win, but we'll prove them wrong yada yada". And then it turns out they already lost. 172.68.34.70 22:23, 27 February 2018 (UTC)