Pokemon GO To The Polls

2016

Date: 16 July 2016 · Place: Annandale, Virginia; Twitter · Figures: Hillary Clinton, Democratic nominee · Niantic, Pokemon GO developer · Robby Mook, Clinton campaign manager · Tags: Politics, Cringe, Election 01. The Line at the Rally Pokemon GO releases on 6 July 2016 and is the largest mobile-game launch in US history within a week. On 16 July 2016, ten days later, Hillary Clinton tells a rally in Annandale, Virginia I don't know who created Pokemon GO but I'm trying to figure out how we get them to have Pokemon GO to the polls. The pause for laughter does not get the laugh she expects. The clip is on Twitter within minutes. The framing is unanimous: this is what a campaign chasing relevance looks like. It becomes the canonical example of cringe-pander politics for the rest of the cycle. 02. The Cringe Cycle The clip plays on every late-night show that week. The Clinton campaign quietly drops a planned Pokemon-themed get-out-the-vote push. The bit is filed alongside the Mason jar headline-photo opportunity as evidence of a campaign that did not understand the joke. The post-mortem after 8 November cites the moment in passing. The deeper lesson is that any reference older than 96 hours is dead before the candidate speaks it on stage. Sources • Pool report, Clinton rally at Annandale High School, 16 July 2016 • Washington Post, 'Hillary Clinton's awkward Pokemon Go pitch', 17 July 2016 • C-SPAN video archive, Clinton Annandale event