Political campaigns and their risks

The main goal of Political Public Relations is to use the media to communicate a particular party's beliefs in order to achieve public support for political policies. Political PR is as its busiest times during election camapaigns. Since 2008 we have gone through two presidential campaigns in two of the most influencial countries in the world, the United States and Great Britain. 

The Obama campaign revolutionised the art of political campaigning. We all know that in the US they spend millions on campaigns and that they always try to do something more spectacular than their election rival. However, the last presidential election in the US exceeded all expectations, not only they spent a lot of money on their campaigns, but the president-to-be, Barack Obama, created a precedent that, as experienced in the UK, will be used in the future.

Apart from the usual trips to different states and cities, appearances on TV, speeches, debates, support clothes, stickers, mugs, etc. Obama incorporated the use of social media in his campaign. He engaged his voters and possible voters through his website, Facebook and Twitter site, Email, Obama TV, mobile phones, MiGente, YouTube and a never ending list of social media platforms. His campaign was successful and  brought him to the White House. The key of his campaign was engaging with his audience, make them part of his campaign and communicate all the time.

Cameron at a conference

His now counterpart, David Cameron, was aware of his success and together with his communication advisors they designed a campaign that many claimed has some similarities with the Obama campaign. Cameron revealed that they had contacted around 500,000 people by email, on Twitter and on his Facebook site introducing a viral campaign much similar to the one of Barack Obama. His messages stressed the idea of hope and change. On one of his first appearances on TV Andrew Neil asked him if the Tories could deliver and Cameron anwered "Yes we can".

During the campaign we saw and heard many similarities to the presidential campaign in the US in 2008. Some of those are shown in the pictures below, as for example when The Sun published a picture of David Cameron emulating one published during the Obama campaign.

Other similarities include the intense use of social media to communicate and engage with voters and the way both candidates appeared in their campaign meetings.

 
However, not all went well for David Cameron. British politics work differently than politics in the US and in Britain, if you are in the public eye, you are exposed to become an object of ridicule. And this is exactly what happened to David Cameron. The opposition party, the Labour Party, created a poster with Caneron on it and Clifford Singer created a webpage where spoof posters of David Cameron's official poster were posted. The original poster was controversial as it seemed that the Tory leader had been airbrushed and the creative director used this as an excuse to continue ´retouching´ Cameron's posters.

There are some risks when you engage with your public and allow converstation. Then you can expect bad comments, criticisms and become part of everybody's jokes. However, that is the risk that David Cameron and his communications team took and, despite his not-so-successful use of social media, he managed to get away with it and win the elections.

What are your thoughts on the use of social media for political public relations? Do you think politics are using it unaware of the consequences?

- For visuals about Obama's presidential campaign refer to the following website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruffini/with/3065114384/

- To see the whole range of spoof posters on David Cameron's campaign visit: www.mydavidcameron.com

Spin-doctors, PR and politics

The word 'spin-doctor' seems to have originated in the United States and probably comes from baseball. However, the first definition of 'spin-doctor' as how we know it currently dates back to 1977 and appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a person who provides a favourable slant to an item of news, potentially unpopular policy etcetera, especially on behalf of a political personality or party".

The term 'spin-doctor' started to be used in Britain in the 90s and was associated with the rise of public appearance of Peter Mandelson and other New Labour media experts, with Alastair Campbell as its main figure.  Alastair Campbell was the Director of Communications and Strategy for Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003 and was considered to be one of the greatest 'spin-doctors' in British politics. 

Alastair Campbell

He is said to have manipulated the press during his time working for Downing Street and to have used journalists to communicate the news he wanted to. However, he also revolutionised political communications in the UK. He managed that tabloids supported the Labour Party and also kept lobby journalists informed more than his predecesors; he established two daily briefings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Campbell resigned after the death of civil servant Dr Kelly who appeared death after it was leaked that it was him who talked to the BBC and told them that no weapons of mass destruction were to be found in Iraq and that the government had inserted false intelligence into the dossier presented to defend the reasons for the war. Many believed that it was Campbell who had rewritten the dossier but it was never proved. 


On 1 March the University of Westminster held a debate around the motion: Have PR and spin undermined trust in politics? Kevin Maguire, political journalist of the Daily Mirror, and Sheila Gunn, fomer political journalist and spokesperson for John Mayor, argued that Public Relations and spin had undermined trust in politics and that they had seen it with their own eyes. On the contrary, Francis Ingham, CEO of the PRCA, and Lance Price one of the former 'spin-doctors' on Downing street, claimed that it was not PR practitioners the ones to blame but journalists and even politicians, as Ingham pointed out, the ones responsible for the lack of trust in politics.


After the debate the motion was put to the vote and finally it was agreed that Public Relations had not undermined the trust in politics in the UK with 78 votes.There were 61 people who voted for the motion. Do you agree with the result?

For further information on spin and Alastair Campbell refer to:
- Richards, P., (2005). Be your own spin doctor: a practical guide to using the media. London: Politico's
- Oborne, P. and Walters, S., (2004). Alastair Campbell. London: Aurum Press
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_SP-HMhJtc&feature=related