Costa Rica: Online Videos add Humor to Presidential Elections · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Image by thombo2 on flickr used according to CC license
The Costa Rican Presidential elections are this Sunday and through videos, many Costa Ricans are expressing their concerns regarding the candidates and the future of their country through parody and humor.
First,  we have an online video uploaded by El Basureo , where they propose an innovative solution to the age old problem of not knowing whom to vote for.  In this Costa Rican election, out of the 6 candidates running for office, four of them are in the lead: National Liberation's Laura Chinchilla, Libertarian Otto Guevara, Socialdemocrat Otton Solis and Social Christian Luis Fishman. El Basureo proposes a new machine which will mix and match characteristics of the candidates, and the names that come off those mixes are a wink and nod to the Costarican political situation.
Online video holds itself as a way to spread information and audiovisual propaganda that is sometimes pulled from the television after a short airing period. Such is the case with candidate Fishman's campaign ad which included grownups dressed as a babies in diapers dancing and playing the piano , pregnant women and a well recognized tune to the campaign's slogan “Fishman, the lesser evil”. It has obviously spawned parodies, such as this next one. The only thing which was changed was the audio and subtitles, the rest of the ad was kept intact:
LaErre.tv also came out with their own take on the elections: The Presidential Candidate Kit, containing everything you could need to launch yourself on a political career. With the initial lines of : If you are tired of other politician's promises, and of being sent to jail when you steal, why not become a candidate yourself and take care of your problems? It goes on to explain the skills necessary, the buzzwords you'll need and the perks you'll have once you acquire their kit and follow the steps.
Elchamukocr also posts a video making fun of Otton Solis, who during the campaign had to stop and ask for donations to continue doing TV campaigns since his funds had run out. In the video, Otton organizes a Teleotton drive to raise cash: