Obama Reaches New Audiences

Many people have probably heard of Zach Galifinakis' web show called "Between Two Ferns", but for those of you who haven't, it's basically Zach Galifinakis briefly interviewing celebrities and making passive aggressive jokes about them while sitting between two potted ferns. The celebrities appear to know about these jokes beforehand; the show seems somewhat scripted. This web show generally has a younger audience, an audience that would be more likely to enjoy Zach's humor.

Some of the past interviewees that have been on the show are: Bradley Cooper, Justin Bieber, and Bruce Willis. On the most recent episode, President Barack Obama was brought on as the interviewee. This episode has received a substantial amount of views, 17 million, and has really got people talking.

Here is the web show

The Presidency has traditionally been a ceremonial job with highly controlled media contact, but by participating in this interview, President Obama speaks out with a much more informal tone in a new venue: a web TV show. He knew he was opening himself up to potentially rude jokes and criticisms, things that people typically wouldn't say to the President. Of course the President's critics jumped on this as an inappropriate use of the President's time.  Also the buzz seems to have brought in more views from older people who tend to be less supportive of the president than the younger viewers more likely to support obamacare.

Do you think this was an effective way to get his message out to an intended audience?  Did it backfire?