‘Obama Girl’ Team Retools for Tech Satire
The New York Times, January 25, 2009
With the presidential campaign over, the producers of the Obama Girl videos have a new target for parody: technology.
played in the Internet “Obama Girl” parodies, will make appearances in satirical jabs at technology.
The Obama Girl character, played by the actress Amber Lee Ettinger, became a bona fide Internet hit when she showed affection for then-Senator Barack Obama in mid-2007. Since then, YouTube has counted more than 13 million views for the first of the low-budget music videos, “I Got a Crush on Obama” — twice as many views as any of the campaign’s official videos. The clip, showing Ms. Ettinger dancing in a bikini in front of a photo of Mr. Obama in the ocean, helped crystallize the view of the candidate as a pop culture figure and, to some, a sex symbol.
Dozens of subsequent videos parodied the presidential debates, Mr. Obama’s competitors, and even the federal stimulus package. “The videos became part of the political conversation,” said Ben Relles, the creator of Barely Political, the producer of the segments.
Political zingers, of course, may not draw as many video views now that Mr. Obama has moved from campaigning to governing. While Barely Political will keep writing the Obama Girl character — she was in Washington last week filming an “inauguration dance party” video — it is establishing a spinoff channel called Barely Digital to give technology the same treatment.
