Whassup

Does anybody remember the 1999 Budweiser "Whassup" commercial? Well, the one-hit wonders are making a come back with less than a week before the presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported that the four actors who made "whassup" a catch phrase are back at making videos. However, can similar tactics that helped sell millions of cases of beer work on selling a candidate?

By using the characters and YouTube as the channel, the four actors parody their characters. However, this time around the men aren't the same relaxed and happy-go-lucky individuals we first met. In "Wassup 2008," the issues of health care, the Iraq war, housing foreclosures and the economy are tackled. Instead of ending the video with all their tongues sticking out and making grunt-like noises, the soldier asks the final "whassup" to the main character. And his response: "Change. Change, that's whassup." 

Now, this video was posted on Friday and as of 12:10 a.m. on October 30, almost 3 million people have watched. What does this say about the influence of social media in the presidential election? If almost 3 million people have already watched the once beer guzzling, jolly characters take on the serious issues, how many will watch in a week? And, like the beer these men used to promote, will they have the success of reaching people to sell Barack Obama to them as a candidate? We may never know exactly how social media and videos like this will influence politicians.