The First 2020 Election Space-Themed Campaign Commercial Flops
Keith’s note: This video is posted on a non-Trump campaign YouTube account.
I find it disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong. @nasa @JimBridenstine https://t.co/cXcKHxmn6e
— Karen L. Nyberg (@AstroKarenN) June 4, 2020
Looks like the Trump campaign pulled their space-themed TV ad offline. Gee, wonder why? 😉 https://t.co/9bl4Spu8bG #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/sXEcwJFZ3v
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 5, 2020
Keith’s note: Parts of this Trump campaign commercial look like portions of a promo for the Netflix show “Space Force” or outtakes from the end of the film “Armageddon”. Statements by the President such as “Because we are Americans and the future belongs totally to us” certainly do not suggest that international cooperation is something that the campaign is promoting. The Trump producers also ripped off a logo from Disney too. Did the NASA employees openly shown in this video give their permission to be shown in a partisan political commercial? Astronaut Karen Nyberg certainly did not think so. NASA policies seem to disagree as well. The campaign eventually pulled the ad offline but it has started to pop up again online elsewhere.
Media Usage Guidelines, NASA
“Current NASA employees, including astronauts, may not appear in commercial material,” those guidelines state. “If a recognizable person, or talent (e.g., an astronaut or a noted personality engaged to narrate a film) appears in NASA material, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. Permission should be obtained from the recognizable person or talent if the proposed use of the NASA material could be viewed as a commercial exploitation of that person.”
– Trump Campaign Pulls Space Launch Ad That Violated NASA Rules, MSN
– Trump campaign removes space-themed ad amid complaints from former astronaut, others, CNN
– Trump campaign pulls ‘Make Space Great Again’ video that may have violated NASA regulations’, Space.com
– Trump campaign pulls space-themed ad after complaints, SpaceNews
– After sparking consternation at NASA, Trump campaign pulls ad featuring SpaceX launch, Geekwire
– In Space No One Can Hear You Campaign: Trump Team Pulls Ad, Barrons
FWIW It looks like the Trump campaign shamelessly ripped off a @Disney logo from the "Mission Space" EPCOT ride for their "make space great again" campaign video. Just sayin' #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/MgKCVQt8W7
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 4, 2020
There is a line in this video clip, about “When we come together as Americans, anything is possible”
Of course that is in reference to Space flight travel, etc.
I would love to see the Administration use those same words and announce some kind of ‘Manhattan’ type project/policy that deals with/resolves/addresses/etc. the social injustice felt by Americans now, in our streets.
The problem is that as President Johnson showed in his “War on Poverty” it’s not that simple. A focused program like that works well for a simple goal like the A-Bomb or going to the Moon where it’s possible to use experimental science to get the answers. It than just becomes a question of throwing money at it to fund the experiments. Solving the issues of Social Justice is a much more complex and difficult problem because you are dealing with human perceptions and behavior.
Don’t expect any progress on social injustice when people with different ideas are called racist and others try to get them fired.
That’s exactly why we need progress. Because today there is no room for meaningful debate.
Some things aren’t debatable. Like racism still exists. The main problem is people still want to debate that.
I wouldn’t call it the main problem. I’d say the main problem (at least for STEM and inclusiveness in science) is that people don’t realized they are racist or biased. It’s unconscious. There are plenty of people who would vocally deny they are racist, but who would unconsciously give preferential treatment to people who are like themselves. I think figuring out how to deal with that really is a place for meaningful debate.
Preserving different ideas is important, but it’s when people want to debate their own invented set of facts that it’s no longer about useful debate. That is a significant problem coming from the right leaning community today. More likely a “different ideas” debate from someone on the right today is just working hard to remain in denial, to hide the truth, and as often to keep others down (women, LGBTQ, blacks, hispanics…) If a behavior is just wrong, demeaning of others, is not accepted by those forming our society, including in the workplace, then yes, you can and should be fired (creating a hostile workplace, violating laws on discrimination, and worse).
I’m reminded of a Twain saying “Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference”. Debate is not always useful.
I’m afraid that isn’t always something you see from the “the right leaning community.” Just try and see what reaction you get from “left leaning” people today (as in this week, with all the protests and police actions.) If someone says _all_ police officers are criminals, and you say that _most_ may be but _all_ is an overgeneralization, some people will treat you like a collaborator with the enemy during a war. Some people (on the right wing) need to step back from the rhetoric and realize there is a big problem we need to solve. But some people (on the left wing) need to also step back from the rhetoric and realize that everyone who disagrees about how to solve the problem isn’t an enemy. Anyone, regardless of their side, who makes things more divisive isn’t helping to solve our very real problems.
Honestly as an outsider looking in Don’t think you will see Trump spending much time on it he see’s the whole thing as a law and order issue not a social policy issue.
Agreed. Really good, and not Trump-like, in that he didn’t attack anyone or criticize the previous Administration.
And he also left out earth science, space science, aeronautics, astronomy, planetary science, education, and all the other things NASA does. NASA’s role in climate change, weather forecasting, technological advances? None of that. Just flags and rockets. To the uninformed it is a feel good ad but it could have been so much more. Let’s see what Team Biden does.
I agree, NASA is a lot more than HSF. But getting non-space advocates to see it has been an uphill battle since Project Mercury. It will be interesting to see if Space actually becomes a campaign issue and if those aspects are highlighted.
And yet perhaps its good if space policy is some kind of battle ground , would be good to see both sides promising to fund the heck outta NASA. NOTE: I get to say that as its not me Tax Dollars 🙂
I don’t like it, I feel it will politicize the space program by making it look like pro space people are Trump supporters. And it will come back and haunt NASA which has been relatively non-partisan. Yes there are those like us (a small group of enthusiasts) following developments of these new space vehicles. For the rest of the country, there’s much larger issues which Artemis and Space Force are irrelavent (let’s be honest, human spaceflight has no impact on people’s lives except those employed in the business). But then people don’t decide whether we fund these programs or not, elected officials do. As one of you said “I have yet to meet a civilian that has heard of Artemis or SLS” which as the space program is now becoming part of Trump’s campaign, this will bring attention to these programs. NASA will most likely become a very partisan agency which congress has influence over.
Congress has had control over NASA since Apollo.
He’s the guy with, for better or worse, more Google hits than Lal other POTUS combined, possibility the most controversial figure in modern American politics.
He is making space a campaign issue. When was the last time that happened?
1960 Missile gap
—
LOL! None of which surprises anyone, anywhere.
I don’t remember…was it Bob Dole or Jeb Bush that was lampooned for months following a suggestion on the campaign trail in Florida that we build a Moon colony?
Times they are a changin’.
Newt Gingrinch.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Stay tuned. They’ll say something.
Agreed Biden will need to respond if Trump is making it a Campaign Issue !
If Biden listens to Lori Garver he will have something useful to say. The issues are much the same.
Based on Garver’s performance together with Obama we did not get much under that previosu Administration. Mainly we got the vehicle that launched last week. Maybe Biden will be different but he mainly seems to go with the loudest voices. Who speaks for space?
Oh so the vehicle we launched last week is … not important? Try and be a little more Trumpy,
They will say something. Biden already did. And they will say more.
Great! Looks like we will have a presidential campaign worth watching that will get folks energized. I hope Lori Garver is involved. She would make a great NASA Administrator.
Agreed. Lori Garver is one of the best.
Biden’s statement is noncommittal. Last week would have been a great opportunity for him to say something meaningful about future direction. He didn’t.
So what. Maybe he will say something at a future date.
BIden has always been a reed in the political winds.
She’s be pretty bad news for science outside Earth orbit but she’s definitely good for commercialization, which is more important in the long run.
I hadn’t heard anything like that. I know her focus isn’t planetary science, but this is the first time I’ve heard she had said or done anything against it. Could you provide some details?
Please share,I hadn’t heard what he said.
Here is the link to VP Biden’s statement.
https://medium.com/@JoeBide…
You know what? All cross-promotion is a game of mutual back scratching where market footprints are merged. He will spend campaign funds to run that tear jerking ad on everyone’s television and it will do far more to promote space exploration in the minds of young and old alike than anything that everyone here on this thread combined can achieve in a lifetime.
When was the last time a Presidential candidate did that?
For once, we have a POTUS campaign where space exploration isn’t an embarrassment.
That might be worth a few frames of Trump interspersed through the video.
When was space exploration an embarrassment? A lower priority, for sure. But an embarasment?
Infrastructure is a lower priority.
Military spending and tax cuts are a low priory for Democrats. Social spending and tax increases are a low priority for Republicans.
Space spending expdnsion is the issue that no one is married to. They might indulge in it some years, in the dead of night when people are distracted, but they hide it during election years like it is a college-age mistress.
When Newt Gingerich said it would be a priority he was ridiculed for it mainly by liberal Democrats.
Prove that it was “ridiculed for it mainly by liberal Democrats.” Seriously. Cite sources, count who said what and their politicial affiliations. Then get back to me – really you are on the edge of Troll designation. Not gonna warn you again.
I have to wonder how any of our allies and international partners will feel about his statement, “because we are americans, the future belongs TOTALLY to us”?
well if other country’s like the UK in the past our space program was thrown away by Edward Heath in 1972 in dogey deal to join the EEC (EU) then they will be left behind Had the previous Administration not canncel’d the Constellation program there would have been astronauts returning to the moon in 2020 not low earth Orbit.
Is the Elephant in the Room the fact that Commercial Crew was an Obama Program ??
Not an Obama Program, I think everyone came to that conclusion after last week’s blog posts. Started before Obama. Obama gave it limited support in lieu of everything he shut down (Constellation and others).
Actually Obama funded CCP. Bigly. Stop with the fake facts.
Well, Mr. Obama’s administration asked Congress to fund CCP. They didn’t give it full funding and he didn’t put much effort into convincing them to provide the full, requested funding. So it limped along with partial funding for years.
He looked Presidential last weekend at the Cape and he looks Presidential in this ad. The ad certainly helps popularize space. Trump has been helping NASA with support. Compare that with his predecessor, who tried to shut a lot of NASA down.
Looked Presidential?
Your bar is low.
Obama tried to shut a lot of NASA down? Oh you mean can a program that was overbudget and way behind schedule? Some call that good governance of taxpayer resources.
But it was done in such a way, without Congressional or NASA coordination, that they shut Constellation down, simultaneously shut Shuttle down, nothing was immediately brought forward, and then the leftovers of Constellation were subsequently restarted when it caused even more delay and even higher cost than it had been. Orion has yet to fly with a crew in case you had not noticed. In the mean time NASA was off uselessly looking for asteroids to capture. In the meantime with no other way to ISS we paid a lot of money to Russians since trampolines would not work.
George W. Bush cancelled the shuttle down. By the time Obama showed up the program was in the final stages of contract termination. The Ares/Constellation program was shut down since it was overweight, over cost, had major technical issues, and grossly behind schedule. Congress mandated the design of SLS – not NASA. You keep posting nonsense here and you are verging on being a troll.
http://www.parabolicarc.com…
Actually they both seem to be variations on the Nasalization Font Type inspired by the NASA Worm logo. Below is an example of a logo generator using it. It would make an interesting legal case and it would hinge on the letter “E”, but it would be hard for Disney to win.
https://www.dafont.com/nasa…
The Trump “Make Space Great Again” political campaign Ad was taken down by the campaign – but it has surfaced elsewhere https://youtu.be/d5jhYuRUlJ8
I’d need to rewatch the movie to be sure, but I suspect one of the Apollo-era bits was ripped off from “First Man.”
And the sooner people comprehend everything Trump touches is a rip off, then we can finally rid ourselves of this scourge and all who enable his horrific actions.
Ripped off a logo? Don’t great “artists” steal?
The problem is that we are more interested in screens and what in them than the wonder of sky. In this case its an ad, in other cases it is the size of someones butt. Until you change the very fabric of the cultural that pervades this world we will have the same issues crop up again and again.
If this ad leads to re-election of this administration, I would hope it leads to greater funding for space. Funding that will be sustained, across multiple administrations, because that is what it will take to do as the ad says… However the caustic nature of the political environment will likely ensure that any subsequent administration will cut funding – blue or red. Any increase will be a short term gain that will be squandered away by subsequent administrations.
I am not convinced that boots on the Moon or anywhere else is going to turn the heads of the young (or oldies set in their ways) from whatever passes for navel gazing that they normally do. We need a cultural shift – don’t ask how or what but rethinking how we educate kids would be a start.
I would trade not ever seeing us on the Moon or Mars to know that we are on our way to the stars.
Or space advocates need to make the adjustment to the new reality and develop strategies that will lead to the stars without high levels of public support. Polar exploration is a good example. It enjoyed high levels of public support before WWII but is now well below the public’s radar. Yet there is more exploration and research going on in the polar regions than in anytime in history.
On the first point – I think a lot of people have been/are looking into how to do this but none seem to have found the magic formula to make it a reality.
As to the second point, if we are happy for space exploration to track polar exploration then we will be here awhile – literally.
Yes, and that is why so many of us are cheering on Starship. If Elon Musk hits his numbers it will make spaceflight cheap enough for modern groups like the National Geographic Society to sponsor expeditions. And just imagine the number of space telescopes there could be if the cost drops to $20/kg to LEO as Elon Muk is projecting for Starship.
In terms of polar expeditions, it depends on which pole. Antarctica sees about 25,000-30,000 tourists a year. If tourist flights to the Moon become as frequent you could close the business model on lunar settlement. But most of their expectations for polar commerce and economic activities have been achieved even if you don’t hear about them anymore.
Yes, I think the wealthiest like Musk and Bezos as the anchor investors are the only possible way forward. Even they will require serious investment partners. I expect space exploitation will get minimal support from a new Administration. The best we might hope for would be that legislative measures, with minimal taxpayer dollars, would be established to help the space exploiters. If the new space industry can develop and achieve some level of independence, then exploration eventually becomes easier and less expensive. NASA no longer is the developer or operator. They become just passengers performing some research. But I don’t think it will happen immediately. We may have to skip a generation of space researchers. Musk already has a good start on building the next generation of designers and developers. As we are seeing with CST and Orion, Old Space, including NASA, requires a complete overhaul to move into the future. They could stand to learn a lot from Musk and Space X.
“there is more exploration and research going on in the polar regions than in anytime in history” That is because technology has advanced so that transportation and even local polar housing is no longer a big obstacle. Passenger planes with hundreds of people fly over the poles all the time. Smaller turboprops ferry the researchers in and out. That and wintering over was the kind of ‘exploration’ that got public attention prior to WWII. If Elon Musk can provide seriously less expensive transportation and eventually housing on the Moon or Mars, then exploration becomes easy. Musk has a big lead already and could pull ahead. What was the company that was responsible for colonizing America-the Dutch East India Comp, Hudson Bay? That could be Space X. The key is to get expenses down and build clientele and then there might be room for some competition.
“What was the company that was responsible for colonizing America-the Dutch East India Comp, Hudson Bay? That could be Space X.”
Just as a historical note, that would be the Dutch _West_ India Company and the “Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay.” But they were focused on the Caribbean and what is now modern Canada, respectively. In the modern United States, it would be things like the Massachusetts Bay Company, or the Charter of Virginia in 1606.
>If this ad leads to re-election of this administration, I would hope
>it leads to greater funding for space.
But at what expense? Decimating budgets of EPA and national parks? Policies that promote polarization and divide? Look at the demographics of those promoting space and then look outside the window. Two very different types of demographics.
The emphasis of that part of my reply was meant to weigh more heavily on the bit that follows what you quoted. I wanted to convey that if this ad does work it will be for short term gains that will end up being another Apollo type project that fades away and not open up the final frontier – at least not directly. I guess i wanted to point out the futility of this messaging; how it was generated and why it was generated.
I am pretty sure that the law says if a person is in a public place they can be photographed and the photograph can be used for virtually any purpose,or sold. One think no further than a typical sporting event. if the picture is on private property, then the approval of the property owner is required. So I dont think anyone who appeared in this commercial, at KSC, has much of a say. As far as logos, using pictures of a vehicle, or a launch, is probably no different than using a person’s face. Its a public place, a public event, it’s fair game. It’s not the same as using the logo to declare an agency endorses a product or a candidate.
Yes, but NASA has a policy of prohibiting pictures of current astronauts from being used in advertising. I don’t know if there have been any legal challenges to that policy based on astronauts being public figures or when their images are part of public news feed, but it would make an interesting court case to determine if NASA’s policy is legal or not.
Using images of an astronaut with their child is pretty scummy. Using images of the astronaut them themselves might be passable, but their kid? Yeah, scummy.
At least in California, if filming is taking place for a specific purpose, then they have to post visible signs that state they are filming and that by being present you are implicitly consenting to your likeness being used. Sporting events tend to have the same thing (it’s in the fine print). The university I was at was used as a set for filming constantly, and these signs would turn up everywhere.
“We are sure as hell not going to hear “We’ve been there before” from President Trump”
Really? Not those exact words, but (as I posted about a year ago) the same sentiment…
Trump: “We did that 50 years ago”
Obama: “We’ve been there before. Buzz has been there.“
well not exactly the same sentiment, Trump was saying we should be able to get to the moon quickly/easily (since we did it 50 years ago) before we head to Mars, Obama was saying we should just head to Mars.
and in another disgusting twist Trump ad invokes JFK speeches
His voice is just so nauseating.
His speech writers aren’t so great either.
I feel like if there is another Trump term, folks will be asked to show loyalty.
I cannot imagine how Trump could have done more to politicize NASA and the human space program. In his speech at Kennedy Space Center Trump took total credit for the flight, while denigrating President Obama as an ignorant destroyer:
“The last administration presided over the closing of the Space Shuttle and almost all of the giant facility that keeps so many people working, so many brilliant minds going. People were crying. They were devastated.”
Yes, of course. The Bush Administration decision to terminate the hundreds of Shuttle support contracts to pay for the doomed Ares I never occurred. The years in which the Obama Administration fought to increase the Commercial Crew budget and was stonewalled by a Republican Congress did not exist.
America is already politically divided. Human spaceflight was once an arena in which people with differing political views could share a common dream. If Trump succeeds in making it just another partisan battleground, valued only for the degree to which it contributes to his power, and simply rejects the contributions of those who have worked most of their lives to advance human spaceflight but do not offer him our personal loyalty, it is hard to see how, in the long run, this great endeavor will survive.
“If Trump succeeds in making it just another partisan battleground, valued only for the degree to which it contributes to his power, and simply rejects the contributions of those who have worked most of their lives to advance human spaceflight but do not offer him our personal loyalty, it is hard to see how, in the long run, this great endeavor will survive.”
For me this last bit feels like a ship that has already sailed. First, NASA’s funding always seems to have been a partisan battle ground and second, people who work within it are not any different to the rest of the population and so already neatly fall behind partisan lines. The likely ratio of the spit is “somewhat” reflected by the approvals/disapprovals your comment has generated. I say somewhat, because science and engineering has always attracted a slightly different crowd to the makeup of the rest of the population.
Sadly the partisan split will surface at some point, it is just a mater of time and it will do so independent of who ever wins in November (though I fear that it will almost be sooner if this current lot lose!).
The zeitgeist this administration seems to have grasped, foggily by some within it and more clearly by others, is in the laziness of the disaffected. Laziness, because it is always easier to assume that all of ones problems (real or otherwise) are due to some one/thing else.
I think that Trump’s intent, very much in line with Musk’s, is to expand the economy into space, to the Moon and to the planets. That I think is in keeping with Republican interest in business expansion and economic growth. Obama’s focus, in keeping with prior Democrats, was to reduce spending on space and refocus spending and NASA on science a nd the environment. With Trump you get the expansion of the human world a nd exponential growth of industry and wealth with the catalyst being some growth in NASA’s budget. With the Democrats you get bigger government focused closer to home. I hope, though it’s as much dream as engineering, that Elon Musk can take over where NASA trails off, and take humans i n to the solar system.
“”We’re stopping at the moon. The moon is actually a launching pad,” Trump said. “That’s why we’re stopping at the moon. I said, ‘Hey, we’ve done the moon. That’s not so exciting.’ So we’ll be doing the moon. But we’ll really be doing Mars.””
https://www.space.com/trump…
Simply put, taking credit for what others have done without proof of your “level” of contribution is lying. Draw your conclusions of ethical and moral fortitude based on that.
No doubt you are speaking about Trump but you could just as easily make the case that NASA had little to do with last week’s launch yet tried to make it appear as though they were running the show. NASA provided some of the development funding but I suspect not nearly what it cost to develop either Dragon or Falcon. And Space X developed the vehicle, built the vehicle, prepared the vehicle, launched the vehicle, controlled the vehicle; their mission control operated and monitored the vehicle….much of the vehicle unique aspects of the launch pad were Space X provided; the funny space suits. NASA provided housing and meals for the astronauts before the launch and once they got there. NASA put their name on the rocket. And NASA made sure to have their people get equal time in presenting the show on TV. But the show was a Space X show.
Is there no length you will go to defend Trump?
In a culture based on instant gratification, shorting attention spans, unconstrained consumerism and lack of long-term vision, SPACE (and to an similar extent science) will never be a prominent nor important nor statistically relevant issue in any election we ever have. It is all smoke and mirrors, and redirection of emotional effort away from the most important issues in society.