Setting yourself up for a fall

Posted by runmark on 22/02/2010 under Blog | Read the First Comment

Political parties should, in theory, have access to the best spin doctors and marketers, but if the last week’s anything to go by I seriously doubt that’s the case for both Labour and the Tories. Both have set themselves up for big falls with their recent campaigns and here’s the thing – if you’re going to have a slogan, make sure it’s not something that can be easily tinkered with!

Take a look at the Conservatives’ dismal ‘I have never voted Tory before but…” campaign from last week. It ended a Labour MP up in hot water when he played on words to make out that the Tories were ‘scum-sucking pigs’. Juvenile yes, but of course, someone had hacked into his account, yeah yeah yeah…

Then New Labour comes up with an equally ridiculous slogan – “A future fair for all” – except the middle classes, students (who received free tuition under the Tories), Corus workers, first time buyers, need I go on? See, you can ad lib all you want with a stupid slogan like that.

With slogans and ‘mission statements’ you have to be über careful. Do you even need one?