Have you sent your digital moon cake yet?
No? Then you haven’t heard of the Smitherman’s campaign latest effort to connect with voters in Toronto’s Chinese community.
The campaign’s “digital moon cake” site invites Chinese voters to connect their cultural past with the future of Toronto by voting for George Smitherman. Confused about the connection? According to the site, “Chinese history is full of stories of political activism and citizen driven change. The Mid-Autumn Festival tradition of giving moon cakes recalls the classic story of Ming revolutionaries inserting a message into moon cakes to start an uprising.” Is this Smitherman’s call to arms? Smitherman is a Chinese revolutionary, and your vote is a moon cake. Take up your moon cake! Do not be silenced!
The site continues: “Following the Chinese tradition of leading political change, Digital Moon Cake is our collective effort to encourage the Chinese community to vote on October 25, 2010.” First of all: China as a leader of political change? Second: we still don’t know why this moon cake is digital.
Next: “A unified vote can decide who will be the next Mayor of Toronto.” Now this is stating the obvious. What you mean, George, is that more votes for you will make you mayor.
And saving the best for last: “In a sense, the Chinese moon cake, can be considered the earliest form of social media.” Somehow, this ancient cultural symbol is an ancestor of Twitter. Not only is this candidate aware of Chinese traditions, he’s hip to what the kids are doing these days.
In addition to this bizarre explanation, the “I Support George!” button at the bottom of the page is unlinked. A teaser for the Digital Moon Cake been taken off the Smitherman homepage, and the whole project feels underdeveloped. Does the digital moon cake movement have a future, or is this a half-baked cultural connection?