Saturday, July 08, 2006

Mexico: In Cyber Campaign, AMLO Loses BigTime




As I pointed out several months ago, there was a very active on-line campaign against Antonio Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexican cyberspace. Given how many younger net-savvy Mexicans voted for Calderon, it is not surprising to see the instant reaction that AMLO's apparent defeat - and his refusal to concede- has generated.

The most extreme example was AMLO's website gettinghacked multiple times. One of the hackers, re-directed surfers to an insult-laden page, where AMLO was ridiculed for his failings to speak English, refusal to answer 7 general knowledge questions, among other things. The hacker mockingly offers the web site admin, classes for 50% of his salary, a clear allusion to the PRD proposal to boost salaries.

Less intrusive (and arguably funnier) has been the manner that AMLO has been thoroughly smacked down on-line. His image has been photoshopped to death, parodies of his campaign ads and press bulletins multiply everywhere, a cartoon image used by his campaign has been turned against him, even electoral court "tally sheets" have been parodied. And talk about interactive media! No sooner does AMLO say something in an interview or some TV show parodies him than it appears uploaded to YouTube, which has become the ultimate interactive on-line electoral weapon.
Talk about reaching a huge audience, 3/4 of a million people have viewed this video of AMLO, before the election stating he would stand by the electoral courts decision.
Remember Edgar the Mexican web icon whose fall in the creek became world famous thanks to Mexican web surfers, now AMLO morphs into Edgar and takes the proverbial fall, pushed by Fox.

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