Thursday, October 4, 2012

Blog Post #5: Rick Perry's Anti-Homosexuality Ad


Blog Post #5: Rick Perry’s Anti-Homosexuality Ad
Last year, Texas Governor Rick Perry ran for the Republican Party nomination for the presidential election of 2012. During his campaign, Perry released an advertisement that instigated harsh criticism from the LBGT (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered) community. In this advertisement, Perry is shown standing in an open field, saying “there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” Although his main point of the advertisement was to express his conservative ties to his faith, he angered many Americans and even caused some of his campaign staff to lose faith in his political views.
The advertisement, entitled "Strong" has over 8 million views to date.

When this advertisement was released in early December of last year, the criticism came pouring in, mainly online. The video was published to YouTube and received over three million views and a half million “downvotes” in just three days, with many commenters expressing their disliking of the ad. Even some notoriously conservative members of the Republican were reluctant to support the ad. As the advertisement spread, members of the community made parody videos of the ad, showing how ridiculous and hateful Perry’s message truly was. My aunt is gay, so this ad was especially offensive to my family and I. Even though I live in his state, I could not support Perry at all. At the end of the day, this ad is one of the main reasons why Perry lost many supporters and ended up losing the nomination to Mitt Romney. 
One example of the numerous parody ads that were released in the ensuing weeks.

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