Manipulating the voters

"voters need access to all of the information a candidate is putting out there"

Doug Emhoff knows how to light up the candles! Isn’t it impressive? Maybe he can even teach his daughter that she is a Jew? Well, I realize that since her mother was not a Jew, “technically” she is not a Jew herself and can feel free to agitate for the Palestinians, but according to the Nuremberg Law she still is a Jew and most likely would have been sent to a concentration camp (even Edith Stein who became Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was killed in the gas chamber at Birkenau. And if we review the whole history of matrilinear descent, we might recall that Jewish descent started as patrilineal. Perhaps it is not a well-known fact, but it is still a fact. So, “Doug Emhoff looking very Jewish” - what does it even mean? Oh, yes, he KNOWS how to light the candles? (and “knows” about Chanukah, nah!)

Just remember, traditionally, Jewish descent was considered patrilineal in ancient times, but rabbinic Judaism shifted to matrilineal descent during the Talmudic period. Does the Jew in the photo below know it? I seriously doubted that maybe if he did, he would have taught his daughter.

Doug Emhoff looking very Jewish — which plays well with Jewish voters, but less with those wary of Kamala Harris’ support for Israel. Courtesy of Getty Images

By Mira FoxSeptember 18, 2024

…

Both Harris and Donald Trump support Israel, but not all populations approve of that position. With targeting, they can each run ads aiming different sound bites at the audiences they’re most likely to appeal to.

There’s little regulation on targeting, and different companies take different approaches. Hulu allows targeting based on broad demographics such as location, age and gender, while Facebook enables advertisers to target their ads to voters’ specific interests, down to details such as their favorite singers or preferred car.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democratic candidate for Senate who has spent over a million dollars on Facebook ads, targeted nine of her campaign ads on the social media site to users who had indicated an interest in “Islamic studies,” and three ads were targeted to people with an interest in “Gaza,” “Palestine” and “Syrian cuisine.” Nine ads also excluded users who had an interest in “Jewish studies.” Facebook’s data does not specify whether these were the same nine ads that were targeted toward those interested in Islamic studies.

Slotkin also targeted ads based on numerous other interests. Some correlated with conservative beliefs, such as “hunting (sport)” and “Fox Broadcasting Company,” which were excluded from seeing 13 ads. Others have less obvious political affiliations: people interested in “musical theater” were excluded from three of Slotkin’s ads.

None of Slotkin’s ads explicitly mention Israel or the Middle East; they largely focus on issues such as border security, healthcare costs, abortion and union support. Nevertheless, the campaign clearly found correlation with ads that were more likely to play better with Arab voters than with Jewish ones.

Of course, every advertiser targets its ads — politicians are not alone in this. Facebook doesn’t release targeting data on non-political advertisements, but I’m certain that the ads I get for waffle-weave towels are not going to every user. 

But politics are not a product, however much they might be marketed as one; voters need access to all of the information a candidate is putting out there, not only what the campaign wants them to see. Until there’s regulation on streaming ads, however, there’s no way out of the echo chamber.

Mira Fox is a reporter at the Forward. Get in touch at fox@forward.com or on Twitter @miraefox.

For the whole piece, read https://forward.com/culture/655242/targeted-political-ads-campaign-israel-kamala-emhoff/?utm_source=The+Forward+Association&utm_campaign=ddfd99f563-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_12_01_04_25_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-1323d6a1cf-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

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