[Paleopsych] politics and marketing

[Michael Christopher]

>>NEVER SAY Government
INSTEAD SAY: Washington<<

--This goes to why the Democrats did so badly.
Republicans stayed on message, had catch-phrases that
were clearly focus-tested by competent marketing
teams, and "branded" everything in sight in a way that
would make Nike proud. Think tanks, church activists,
talk radio and internet email trees were coordinated,
all using the same press releases, the same language,
the same lockstep labeling and negative branding of
anything "liberal" as weak, wimpy and vacillating.
Anyone who studies marketing will recognize all the
techniques, and will be amazed that Democrats were so
slow to respond with appropriate counter-moves and
pre-empt branding with branding. If the GOP campaign
had been framed as a marketing-based campaign, which
it very much was, its moves would have appeared
manipulative and underhanded, as they did in the
primary campaign where McCain was so unfairly trashed.
Instead, Democrats were cornered at every turn,
branded vacillating, and their squirming to catch up
confirmed the dominant theme, which was "Republicans
are decisive, Democrats weak. Republicans stand firm.
Democrats are lukewarm. Republicans have the
endorsement of God. Democrats believe in relative
values and are therefore anti-God." Enough repetition
and any binary labeling will seem true. 

I'm hoping Democrats don't end up using the same
techniques, at least not as well as Republicans have
used them. Stirring up resentment against
conservatives the way it's been stirred up against
liberals, deliberately and with strategy, is not
something I'd want to be associated with. Some anger
is inevitable when people feel wronged, but playing on
the victim mentality, whether it's Christian
resentment against secular humanism, or race/class
alienation against the system, is not something that
should be done, in my opinion. If either party wants
to have the moral high ground, it's going to have to
stop using character assassination as part of its
toolkit, and it's going to have to use marketing that
holds up as well when it's exposed as when it's
covert.

Michael




		
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