"More Cowbell" and other Animated GIFs used by GOP

GOP Social Campaign Gets Animated Over GIFs

Excerpt:

For Republicans’ digital strategy, repetition is key. Leonardo DiCaprio throws cash in a wastebasket while Emma Stone shrugs. Taylor Swift takes a golf club to a vintage AC Cobra. Will Ferrell bangs on a cowbell. And so they go, over and over again, as short, repeating images pressed into service for House Republicans’ social-media cause. House Republicans have deployed these moving images, known as GIFs—an acronym for “graphics interchange format”—on issues ranging from food labeling to immigration, trying to win over young voters. They launched the first ones in 2013, attacking the Affordable Care Act with a GIF of House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) saying “Are you kidding me?” while his head bobs and weaves, and bobs and weaves. The GOP has used GIFs in legislative fights ever since, one repeating image at a time. “We’re using GIFs to communicate our messages more creatively,” said Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), who is leading a campaign dubbed GOP Labs to train lawmakers on social media. She says the GIFs help the GOP reach younger audiences and “illustrate complex issues in a more fun and innovative way.”

Comment: I used to have an animated GIF editor (Paint Shop Pro). Had much fun with it. GIMP (open source) has an animation editor.

Below is the More Cowbell SNL skit: