How Russian Ads Influenced So Many

During election season, Russian ads on Facebook and social media influenced many voters in crucial states. However, these ads were very graphically unnapealing and unprofessional. How then, did they work so well? Newhouse Professor Jennifer Grygiel answered this question for Wired magazine.

Russia wanted the ads to look like they “could have been created by your average American. They don’t want glossy high production,” she said. “It was almost distilled to the point of it being pop art. Essentially what they’re doing with some of these memes is like a culture mash. It’s almost like re-mixing American culture and in this case some American fears.”