POLITICAL MARKETING

A NEW KIND OF MARKETING

I think it is a little boring to follow a topic like elections because after a while the things you read in newspapers are more or less the same. In their speeches and interviews, candidates repeat their political platforms, repeat their slogans and even if they try to use different words, in the long run their statements seem to become idle chatter. I mean, important issues such as health, economy, immigration, work…seem without content and everything seem to be reduced to oratory exercises: candidates speaks as if they were selling a product. I think that in the last decades, politics has followed communication styles belonging to advertising: slogans, jingles, placards, symbols, adds (on TV, radio, in magazines, leaflets, e-mails…), photos with smiling people…are used more and more. Perhaps we can start talking of “political marketing” to all intents and purposes!!!

In this last week there wasn’t big or interesting news…at this stage of campaign, everything has already been said and now candidates start to attack, overtly or covertly, the opposition. So, you read lines and lines of nothing…
I think that both in American and Italian campaigns, candidates endeavor to persuade those part of undecided voters who can really determine the winner.

As regards Italy, foreign papers wrote about Alitalia near bankruptcy, holders of accounts in Liechtenstein banks and mozzarella cheese with dioxin. In general, Italy continues to be seen as a country with big problems that are hampering its growth and whose population is discontent and weary.
Italian papers update thousand times a day their pages with candidates’ silly statements: you read articles on politicians’ empty statements which often have no real connection between them.

As regards America, things are not so different. For example, some headlines are: “Obama and Clinton exchange slurs”; “Obama blames Clinton era for crisis” and so on. Somehow, the tones of the campaign are becoming harsher.
In order to persuade people, journalists often interview famous actors which becomes sorts of testimonials: for example, George Clooney and Brad Pitt support Obama, Angelina Jolie supports Clinton.

The stake game is high and of course, candidates try all-out to be the winner.

Politics dot-coms

POLITICS DOT-COMS

Reading on-line articles I notices that when newspapers have to deal with their nation’s domestic politics, news are updated more than once per day, detailed and a little repetitive.
In any case, there are some basic elements I think are common in journalism in general and some elements which characterized only on-line journalism. Some of them are:
- the title which, as a sort of showcase of the news, has to catch the readers’ attention; it contains puns or simply politicians’ statements or sorts of slogans;
- most times there is also a subtitle which sums up in few words the content of the article;
- photos and imagines (in general one per page);
- hyperlinks and clickable words
- related articles.

What I really enjoy on on-line newspapers is that you can use their “inner” search engine to look for the topics you want, and their archives; you can read people’s comments and posts, and write your opinion; you can easily “jump” from one topic to another and quickly understand or find out the meanings of words thanks to glossaries or clickable words.

Comparing Spanish (La Vanguardia, El Paìs ), English (Financial times) and Italian (La Repubblica) on-line newspapers I did not see great differences in style in that they tend to be straightforward and to stress key-words.

'La Repubbica' talks about Senator Obama as a charismatic leader who has great communication ability, a clear political platform and the desire to give American people hopes for their future. He is seen as a man who can gather people together thanks to his powerful and straightforward speeches.
Italian papers and newscast always deal with foreign countries: for example in these days we have read or listened to news about American, Spanish, French, Iranian elections. We are somehow “pro-foreign”! In general our foreign correspondents learn most important news from news agencies (which are reliable sources) and they treat events more or less objectively and trying to understand their dynamics. It is not just like that when they have to do with domestic politics.
Also Spanish papers remark how important communication is in campaigns and how Senator Obama is good in his debates and talk.
In English papers, Obama is seen as an important candidates who is achieving consensus and popularity day after day, proved by election results and polls as well. Of course there is also room for scoops, for news about Senator Obama’s past, disputes between Senator Clinton and him and so on.

As regards Mr. Veltroni, Italian journalists write about his tour, his speeches and political platform and, since he says are more or less the same things (obviously he has his own and fix platform), articles are about the same things and often about trivial quarrels between two or more politicians.
England and Spain look at Italy as a country who has to cope with lots of problems. They perceive that Italian people are confused. Following Italian event through other’s eyes is very interesting: sometimes I have the feeling that I understand better what is going on here from foreign magazines than from our papers.
Mr. Veltroni is seen as a polite and moderate person who tries to avoid offending (or even naming) either side.

Finally, I noticed that while English articles are sometimes quite long and journalists (as Spanish ones) tend to write in first person, we tend to report foreign news in an impersonal way, maybe in order to convey a sense of objectivity and truth.