Pat Hume, Davos Man and Me
Over the last several days, we have heard from several readers about an abundance of online advertising from Republican Elk Grove City Councilmember Pat Hume and District 5 Sacramento County Board of Supervisor candidate Pat Hume. In a sign of the times, most of the readers have seen them on their mobile devices while surfing what might be called lifestyle and non-prime sites.
We have not seen any of these mobile device advertisements, but last night we stumbled on them on a desktop in what we think would be an unlikely site to target Hume supporters, the website Raw Story. One description says Raw Story "is considered a hyperpartisan media outlet" focused on progressive issues.
Last night we landed on the site after clicking a retweet on Twitter about a story we'll simply call Davos Man. The story was an opinion piece about the writer characterized as the detrimental effects of the decades-long annual meetings in Davos Switzerland.
Given Hume's conservative and Republican credentials, this seemed an odd website to promote his candiacy, especially for infomred voters. We can't pretend to understand the intricacies of online analytics that place these advertisements.
We thought, perhaps it was a one off. But alas it wasn't.
Curiously, we clicked on several Raw Story features critical of former President Donald Trump, Sarah Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and voilà, Hume advertisements, and interestingly ads for Roger Niello's State Senate candidacy, appeared (see the screenshots in video below).
Taking it one step further, we opened an incognito Chrome tab, with no sign-ins, and visited Elk Grove News and again, a large Hume advertisement appeared at the top of the page. That was surprising.
It seems by our experience last night and readers antidotes, Hume's campaign strategy in part is swamping potential voters with online advertising. Not surprisingly Hume and Moreno, the top two contenders in the District 5 race, would prefer to win in June primary rather than continue to the November general elections.
In a couple weeks we'll see if Hume's online strategy work. If it doesn't push him across the 50-percent threshold or at least the all important first place, we'll know why.
Posts
Post a Comment