All is Not “Lost” With Obama.
13. Jan, 2010 
2 Comments
As a public relations student I’ve analyzed many of the major occurrences in today’s society pretty harshly. I strongly believe that many people and organizations (Tiger Woods for one) fail to effectively deal with their publics or their audiences. However, Barack Obama is currently the exception. (How many times have we heard that throughout the past couple years?).
Merely a few days ago, word was announced that the President’s annual speech would be aired on January 25th and February 2nd. Although, January 25th coincided with American Idol (that show is STILL on?!), the major problem occurred as February 2nd was supposed to be the series premier of the final season (the sixth) of Lost.
People were going nuts! Twitter and Facebook pages filled up with comments from tons and tons of people indicating their complete devastation regarding the fact that they would have to wait 7 more days (oh no!) to find out what happened to Jack, Kate, Lock and the many other characters they had grown to love.
Nonetheless, a few days later, Barack Obama took time to overlook the issues surrounding the economy, forgot about the 2826255 issues concerning Iraq and the ongoing war, and pondered about the scenario… and decided to postpone his speech.
Although different televisions clips, radio announcements and websites are currently indicating a multitude of different information, the last statement confirmed is that Obama will be postponing his speech until another day in the near future – BUT it will not be held on the second of February.
There is no doubt that this was a great move on Obama’s behalf. His Twitter account was being filled with millions of comments about viewers’ disappointment of the original proclamation that they would have to wait. However, now he is only receiving positive feedback. For instance, co-creator and executive producer, Damon Lindelof, upon hearing about the recent update, tweeted, “Groundhog Day is OURS!” and preceded to ask his followers to tweet your thanks to @BarackObama.
Although I feel the President (and his PR staff) handled the situation wonderfully, I am still weary on the situation itself. What is the world coming to? We are going to postpone a presidential speech so we do not have to wait…7 days… to see a television show?
I do understand that all of those involved with the show would be affected if it was postponed. Since the middle of November, I do not believe any of us can admit to watching television for more than ten minutes without seeing the promos for Lost’s first episode… and the words February 2nd attached.
Overall, I’m still iffy on the whole scenario but it definitely announces to the world how effective social media has become within today’s society. It also exemplifies how on the ball Obama is and how much he cares about his target audience. He is well-aware that many of the people that believed in him (and evidently voted for him) are also the same people that wish to watch Lost. For this reason, he communicated perfectively – effectively and without hassle.
Overall, one can indicate that belief in Obama is not “Lost.” Oh, and to all of you ‘Lost’ watchers…. Enjoy your show…. On February 2nd!
