When Hilary Clinton was running for president in 2016 her campaign released a video called Mirrors. It featured young women looking in the mirror while misogynist quotes from Donald Trump (”slob”, “pig”) played in the background.
It was a powerful ad and it was widely praised and quickly shared by media outlets. Considering the impact Trump’s three nominations for the Supreme Court would have in overturning the right to abortion, it was also prescient in how damaging his presidency would be for women’s rights.
But here’s the thing.
According to David Shor, a Democrat data scientist, when he and his team tested the ad, they found it made voters more likely to vote Republican.
That’s right. This election ad, despite being designed to help win an election, was actually doing the opposite.
And the more it went viral, the more damage it did.
Maybe the ad was seen as lecturing, or ignoring — for those voters — more important issues. I don’t know.
But I do know that Clinton went on to lose the election.
A great video is nothing unless you understand the audience you’re trying to talk to.