Recently I have witnessed a number of advertisements surrounding politics in BC and I came to wonder what the actual effects of such ads are. I personally rolled my eyes and wondered why the heck I couldn’t skip the ad (I’m usually fairly neutral, ad wise). But something about politics for me just screams it’s just a gimmick to get your vote. I have a fairly negative connotation towards politics in general, partially due to living in residence and being in an elected position. Note, this is not due to a problem with my election results (I was uncontested) but rather some trends I’ve seen working as an elections officer.
What makes a good campaign? At least from a residence council side of things, it’s really not as much on your platform but more how much people like you or what you did to campaign. Which is I suppose why I find these ads so frustrating because there is nothing about who the people actually are, it’s about what they will aim to do. My point is, its like an interview, and you would never get away with just making a bunch of claims in your interview now would you? So why is politics so different?
Honestly, isn’t that what you’d rather see? Someone who has demonstrated actions in the past, and has the team, knowledge, experience and ability to make changes that people seek to see happen. Why even address all these issues in a short 30-second ad? Why not be more general on what you bring forward, rather than make only a small proportion of your target segment happy by focusing on a few key issues when you can be more general and give people reason to believe that you have the capability to make the changes they wish?
This isn’t so much a political statement as it is a marketing observation; after all, no one likes false promises, no less people hiding behind lofty statements, so why doesn’t politics take a more professional and business-like approach to their approach to people and their branding?
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