Knowledge@wharton

Pop singer Britney Spears would seem to have little to teach candidates for the U.S. presidency. But her lame performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 9 -- she forgot the words to a lip-synched song -- is a cautionary tale about the speed with which news travels in a wired world. Indeed news reports and video clips of political gaffes travel just as fast as bad music reviews and elicit judgments just as quickly. For presidential candidates it leaves little room for error in how they package themselves and their message. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.