Citizen Change

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Vote or Die!

Citizen Change is a political service group, founded by music mogul P. Diddy, and backed by Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and 50 Cent. The group aims to "hip young people to the hustle of the politics by educating them about the power of their vote." Created in 2004, the stated aim was to get young people to vote, but critics alleged that the ultimate aim was to get out the vote of a demographic viewed as likely to vote against the incumbent George W. Bush. The main goal was to convince youth voters that if they didn't vote, they would be sent to Iraq and would die.

The campaign's message, promoted on t-shirts and other things, is "Vote or Die!". Many American television shows (most notably South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) have parodied this campaign as laughably hyperbolic, unnecessarily violent, and an obvious presentation of a false choice. In a South Park episode entitled "Douche and Turd," P.Diddy and his associates chase Stan Marsh around with weapons and literally threaten to kill him if he doesn't vote.

Ironically, two of the proponents of the "Vote or Die" campaign did not vote in the 2004 election. Paris Hilton and Ludacris didn't register to vote[1], while 50 Cent was not allowed to do so because of his status as a convicted felon.[2]

As of 2006, the Citizen Change organization has not been disbanded, though it is inactive.[3]

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