Jeremy Clarkson is a legend, that’s a fact, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want him running the country. However, almost 50,000 people signed a petition to back exactly that: Jeremy Clarkson replacing Gordon Brown as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Downing Street’s response? A viral video.

The British Government has been desperately trying to embrace new technology over the past few years. It’s willingness to follow Internet trends has meant the introduction of a new website with interactive elements, while it is also the first government to have its own YouTube channel.

These two elements combined recently when 49,447 people signed an online petition on the official 10 Downing Street website to get Jeremy Clarkson instated as the new Prime Minister. When e-petitions were introduced on the site a couple of years ago, the Government promised to respond to any that received over 200 electronic signatures.

Because emailing each and every one of the 49,477 people idiotic to sign this petition would have been tiresome, 10 Downing Street decided to leverage another weapon at its disposal – that of viral video. And so it produced this short clip to answer the call for the Top Gear man to become the leader of the country.

It may not be hysterically funny and it may not be brilliantly produced, but it is at least nice to see the British Government know the power of a video marketing campaign, and what’s more, they have a sense of humour.

Not everyone has seen this stunt as quite so positive though, with the Conservative opposition telling The Guardian that:

“While the British public is having to tighten its belts the government is spending taxpayers’ money on a completely frivolous project.”

Which the Tories never did in all its years in power I’m sure. The video has also attracted derision from a barrage of letters to the press, some of which claim that the petition wasn’t taken seriously and that shows how detached the Government is from the real world. Well no, it was a stupid petition that deserved much less than the respectful yet humorous response the British Government gave it.

I actually applaud this reaction as it shows a Government intent on embracing the power of the Web and knowing exactly what to do in that field. Now if only Gordon Brown himself wasn’t such a useless Prime Minister we could actually start getting somewhere.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 11:57 pm under Internet, Online video, Opinion.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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