Olivia Wilde has come back from the future to tell you to vote. Wait, that’s not quite right. Olivia Kickin’ Chipotle Glazed Time Warner has come back from the future to tell you to vote. Yep, that about covers it.
Olivia has recorded a video for liberal political action group MoveOn.org that is part satire, part dystopian view of the future. Also, it’s pretty funny. Take a look for yourself.
My favorite bit is about President Palin declaring “SUPERWAR” on Norway. The pointed political ad encourages people to vote for Democratic candidates on Nov. 2 to stop the impending “RepubliCorp” party. The whole thing plays like a pirate feed from the year 2057 with a cameo from Baby Mama and No Ordinary Family actor Romany Malco.
The message can also be personalized via Facebook to include your name and photo on the MoveOn.org site. (That way all those blank photos, spaces, make more sense.) Also, if you ever wanted to see what it was like to have Olivia Wilde scream your name, this is your chance.
Now say what you will about celebrities entering the political discourse, and I hope you will, but I have to say this is one of the more creative political ads I’ve seen in a while. The clip is interesting, funny and has sharp elbows. Also, it has Olivia in a tank top — this last point really cannot be emphasized enough.
I, for one, appreciate when celebrities try to use their fame and platform for more than just selling their own lines of perfume and clothing. While my vote may not necessarily be swayed by such-and-such star saying so-and-so, I do applaud anyone who encourages more participation in the democratic process.
Olivia spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the ad and why she is so passionate about politics.
Why did she want to make the ad?
I was just really attracted to her ideas for bringing together creativity and politics in an interesting and active way. Actors want to help, artists of all kinds want to help, but just us standing there telling you to vote is not really effective, it’s not really useful, and it’s not really our place. I mean, it’s anyone’s place to tell you to vote; of course you should vote. But I do think if you can use artists’ skills to help with that message, you should. I’m very concerned that people won’t make the time to vote. Traditionally mid-terms elections are not popular, particularly among younger voters. This seemed like the most effective way I could help people go out and vote.
Is she worried about it hurting her career?
Not at all. I stand by my beliefs. I don’t force them on anybody else, but it’s something that I’m willing to back up and something that I believe in. I’m not afraid of alienating myself from certain audiences, if that’s what you mean. [Laughs] I’m sure I lost maybe couple thousand people on Twitter. I probably lose them every time tweet anything political. But I don’t mind at all. I would rather stay true to my own political beliefs than pretend not to have them.
This isn’t Olivia’s only entry into political or world issues. She was active in the 2008 presidential campaign and has been a strong and continuing voice of support for the relief efforts for Haiti.
Olivia has a slew of big new movies coming up from Tron Legacy to Cowboys & Aliens as well as her continued work on House. She is positioned to breakout in a big way soon, so stepping so strongly into the political fray could be seen as risky. So I salute you, Olivia Kickin’ Chipotle Glazed Time Warner, for taking a bold stand.
What do you think? Did you like her message? Do you like it when stars talk politics? Are you going to vote Nov. 2?
