I am sick and tired of the ads, phone calls and junk mail…and after today, it will just about be over.
But despite the frustrations of long lines, Facebook friends you no longer like and politicians you just don’t trust, Seth Godin has uncovered a really good reason to vote.
It’s a quick read and well worth it. After all, don’t we all want people working hard to please us?
Why vote? The marketing dynamics of apathy
Here’s what political marketers learn from people who don’t vote:
Nothing.
If you don’t vote because you’re disappointed with your choices, disgusted by tactics like lying and spin, or merely turned off by the process, you’ve opted out of the marketplace.
The goal of political marketers isn’t to get you to vote. Their goal is to get more votes than the other guy. So they obsess about pleasing those that vote. Everyone else is invisible.
Steakhouses do nothing to please vegetarians who don’t visit them, and politicians and their handlers don’t care at all about non-voters.
The magic of voting is that by opting in to the system, you magically begin to count. A lot.