Come to Your Census

I'll admit it, I'm one of those dumb bitches who watches the Super Bowl just for the ads. I usually put the game on mute and sit back and enjoy being expertly manipulated by media corporations. So when I heard, via an article in the Washington Post, that the Census Bureau was making a Super Bowl commercial, I was skeptical but optimistic. Super Bowl ads are always a bit hit or miss, but at $2.5 million a pop, how bad could it really be? I saw one of the commercials a few days before the Super Bowl, and then the part II of the series when it aired. I thought that maybe I missed something, or that all the promised additional online content would give me more, so I hopped on the Youtube channel to check out the other videos. But I was left with the same questions as before. Wait, like, what? We're spending $2oo million more than the 2000 census? People still don't know what the census is? John McCain has a Twitter?

According to a story in the NY Times, some of the additional costs are related to the census being distributed in 28 languages, as opposed to 17 in 2000, which can only be a good thing. Advertising is being more specifically targeted in multiple languages, which is also a good thing. But why is the census more important and worth more spending this year than previous years? Maybe the government is trying to go out with a bang before 2012 hits us.

So take a look at the ad that aired during the Super Bowl. The most annoying thing about it isn't that Christopher Guest shockingly agreed to direct this, or even the stereotypically cast sassy black woman saying, "Mmm-hmmmmm." It's that the commercial doesn't say much about the census, other than "it exists." The census is a "snapshot of America, 300 million people all at the same time"? Last I checked, the census was most basically a tool to determine the US population for the purposes of taxation and governmental representation. It also serves to show the various demographics of the population, both in the country as a whole, and by state, region, city, etc. (By the way, the census is officially broken down into the regions of Northeast, Midwest, South and West).

But the ad doesn't say any of that. The additional online content, including a Facebook fan page and "behind the scenes" footage is even more disappointing and irrelevant, not to mention not very funny for Christopher Guest's standards. There is just a complete lack of solid information being presented. The ad doesn't even contain an admonition to remember to return the damn thing on time. I understand where the Census Bureau is coming from with this campaign, and it is noble that they attempted to make the public more aware of the census. But really, shouldn't this be something that is remedied through public education? Basic US government classes in middle and high schools should be explaining the census, and that message should be sticking with kids into adulthood. If they still choose to not partake in the census, a cast of colorful characters in a mockumentary (and a mock one, at that) is not going to do much to change their minds.