Yesterday, MSNBC announced its new slogan, "Lean Forward" — part of a plan to give itself a clearly progressive political position and brand itself as memorably as juggernaut Fox News has with the provocative phrase "Fair and Balanced." MSNBC's slogan is part of a comprehensive, two-and-a-half year campaign that includes ads in subways and newspapers, as well as TV commercials directed by Spike Lee. Will it work?
It's vague and ineffective: "I can only say bravo to the ad wizards who sold MSNBC on this one," says Daniel Foster at National Review. The new slogan, "Lean Forward" is nothing but a "half-hearted attempt... to gloss its same-old lefty line with a coat of empty post-ideological babble." It's also vulnerable to parody: Maybe Fox News should "change its tag-line to 'Start With Your Weight On Your Back Foot, Swing From The Shoulder, And Rotate Your Torso Through The Punch.'"
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