Leonardo DiCaprio released a PSA Wednesday chock-full of celebrities (like Jamie Foxx and Tobey Maguire) encouraging people to vote … by telling them not to vote. A tricky bit of reverse psychology there.Â
There are two versions of the ad, called “5 Friends,” one where featured celebrities like Jonah Hill, Kevin Connolly and others swear (posted above), and another with their profanity bleeped out. As my colleague Tara Graham astutely points out, the PSA is really just an excuse to watch famous people curse.
And apparently, that’s what drives viewership. At the time of this posting, the uncensored version of the PSA had almost three times as many views as the clean version, and those differences are likely to grow larger each day.
With just under 500,000 views on YouTube for the uncensored version in about 24 hours, it looks like Leo has a bonafide hit on his hands. The 5friendsvote channel was the second-most-viewed channel on YouTube Thursday, and “5 Friends Uncensored” was the third-most-favorited video.
Here’s the real question: Why? Why is it such a hit? The PSA seems to break all the rules of a successful Internet video.Â
First of all, it’s too long. A 4:45-minute running time is an eternity to watch people standing in front of a white background. (Put aside for a moment that they’re trying to convince you to vote.) And the camera jumping and zooming around doesn’t make things any more interesting. The celebs even wait around for a minute, doing nothing, to give viewers a chance to write down a voter registration Web site.
Second, it’s not funny. Jonah Hill is funny. Sarah Silverman is funny. Ellen DeGeneres is funny. But they aren’t funny in this PSA. Hill dropping the random F-bomb doesn’t make me want to watch it again.
Third, it’s condescending as hell. Maybe it’s tough for a PSA to avoid being somewhat condescending, but it seems much worse when I hear celebrities telling me I should register. As if hearing something from a famous person somehow makes it more important. And the whole message delivery feels off, too. By telling me how I shouldn’t vote, they’re actually telling me I should vote – doesn’t that seem a little forced?
So what’s driving up the viewing numbers? Either people truly are forwarding this around to five friends, or the average YouTube user will watch anything with a celebrity in it (the more the better!). Celebrities who swear? That’s just magical.
Tags: 5 friends, leonardo dicaprio, vote psa
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