Cable channels are beginning to air political advertisements, MTV for the first time.  Comedy Central will air the ad during The Daily Show and Colbert, also a first. One of the first will promote Senator Barack Obama.  Throughout the ad, paid for by moveon.org, you never hear Barack Obama's name but it does repeat a slogan that is familiar to anyone following this year's election, "Hope".

The ad titled "It Could Happen to You" is a takeoff of anti drug commercials geared towards younger people. But instead of moving its target audience away from a habit, it suggests that Obama's message of "hope" is a good habit.  Through out the ad you hear familiar lines like, "Hope: It could happen to you" and "This is your brain...this is your brain on hope."  The second line is accompanied by video showing an egg as your brain and then a hatched chick as your brain on "hope." I guess the idea is that "hope" makes you happier, but does it taste like chicken?

MTV has had its political campaign "Choose or Lose" since 1992, and this is the first time that the music channel is airing political ads and cashing the checks that come with them. In an article on pastemagazine.com, Jeannie Kedas - Executive Vice President of communications for the MTV's music networks said, "In each presidential election cycle, there has been an increasing engagement among young people...Given that's the case, we took a look at the policy and decided that the campaign ads would be a good fit and would complement what we do for "Choose or Loose."

This ad really does target a younger demographic and that's the reason it is airing on channels like MTV and Comedy Central. In an article in the New York Times, Tony Fox, a spokesman for Comedy Central mentioned that it would be a good fit with Comedy Central's young, politically sophisticated audience.

As a young voter, the ad did make me laugh, it is a comedic take off the drug adds, and it does catch the attention of the youth voter, which is what they want.

See the ad for yourself.