Every day I drive merrily to work and recently I’ve noticed a large amount of random posters on street lamps by a political party we all know; the Democratic Alliance. The posters feature DA leader Helen Zille in a very serious pose, arms crossed set on the typical DA yellow. Now despite the fact that these posters are lacking in any real reason for being up right now they’re straight forward campaign stuff. Let me just mention that I think Helen Zille is cool. I don’t think she’s cool in a rock star kind of way but I respect her for what she does.
What bothers me though, are the “slogans” on these posters. With gems like “Let’s fight drugs” and “Lets make South Africa better together” you can’t help but wonder where the DA got their copywriters from. I can imagine the brief: “Liberal party led by tough talking older lady seeks to appeal to all potential voters. Critical that you focus on topical issues facing the country. If you can make these slogans vague and irrelevant then all the better.” What we have here is an example of mediocrity.
Seriously, what kind of person finds the scourge of drugs a scare tactic that will make them vote for a political party? I’ll tell you! It’s the kind of person we like to categorise as the “Liberal old White”. That stereotype worries about drug addled killers coming in the night to take the flat screen they’ve worked so hard to afford.
Let’s be realistic though, politics is about promising things you cannot really provide. The party that offers the most appealing “stuff” and/or appeals to the lowest common denominator in South Africa will win. Now by making generalist comments and wanting to fight drugs the DA shows that lowest common denominator is not a segment they understand. I’m not the biggest fan of Jacob Zuma but he’s a man of the people, he goes around touring impoverished areas and meeting people while the DA works on scaremongering.
I’ve always said that the reason the Democratic Alliance will never be the leading party in parliament (besides the fact that they’ve segmented themselves to appeal to a very pale audience) is that they are full of hot air. I’ve had the opinion for many years that if the DA wanted to complain about something the ruling monkeys did wrong they should at least show the public what they would do. I mean it’s simple comparative marketing; you show me why your product is better than the one I’m unhappy with.
So here’s my message to the DA: Stop focusing on scaring white people and making them huddle in their houses or move to Australia. Maybe if you focused on talking to the lowest common denominator about food, housing, delivery of services and crime then maybe you would have more of a chance.
PS: I obviously don’t have images of these posters since it’s a bit difficult taking photos while drivin but if anyone has a pic then please send me one.
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Actually, the wording is “Win the War on Crime”/”Win the War on Drugs” Support the DA. It’s part of a two week campaign focussing on the issue of crime (incidentally the number 1 concern for all South Africans, not just white South Africans), culminating in the launch of the DA’s comprehensive new plan for tackling crime today.
“Win the war on crime/ drugs” is actually a positive message – and the campaign focus is on solutions.
Anthony, don’t you think the issue here is not the wording of the posters but the target segments of the DA? How do they ever expect to make a difference if they continue to target a dwindling white minority?
Ah, but that was my point. Crime is the top issue for people, regardless of race. On what basis are you saying the campaign is only targeted at the white minority?
Anthony, we’re never going to agree on the matter here but I have a question which will make you automatically right:
“How do you measure results?” and were those results worth the money spent?
In typical business sense what’s your ROI?
Well, we only get to truly measure ROI every five years, and it would be impossible to isolate the impact of a 2 week mini-campaign from that. But I can say that market research gives the DA high favourability and credibility ratings on fighting crime among its target market (across all races) so that gives us some indication that our communication on the crime issue generally is having a positive impact.
The great danger that marketers need to avoid is generalising their response to a campaign, or that of their friends, to the whole market.
I think the point you’re making is similar to the one Tim Cohen made last week when he wrote, “It’s hard to think of a more bizarre message in the midst of an economic downturn.” Helen Zille responded to his comment in depth in SA Today last week. You can read it at http://helenzille.co.za/new/?p=33
What makes you think Helen does’nt “tour impoverished areas” (like Zuma) but sits at home (or in her office) and scaremongers?? Surely you must know that she is mind-bogglingly hands on and goes to downtrodden places you probably haven’t heard of!