MSNBC seems to be the network for people who are angry at other people for being angry at something in the first place. I think. This would at least explain their struggle to find an audience. To help them in their audience-finding effort they’ve unleashed a new tagline: Lean Forward. As in, “Lean forward but try not to fall asleep.”
All you have to do is compare that with Fox’s “We report, you decide” to see what an epic fail this is.
The problem is that the tagline is in perfect keeping with the brand: It sums up the sort-of-but-not-quite-left-of-center liberals whom both the Right and the Left can’t stand. It’s like they really want to be for something, but not if it’s going to upset you. Lean forward, don’t actually move there. Which is really odd given that MSNBCs two most (only?) successful shows are Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow – neither of whom can be said to lack for fire. And one of whom, Maddow, is actually intelligent, too!
Congrats to MSNBC on producing one of the three worst taglines currently in use. The other two:
- Army strong. With a half-a-trillion dollar budget you’d think they could afford at least one verb.
- Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru. I still can’t believe someone got paid for coming up with that.
Collateral Damage 