TIPS ON ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL MARKETING As the 2015 general elections draw near, a deluge of political campaigns has been dominating the media – print, electronic, virtual and social – all promoting their political office aspirants of choice. One thing noticeable in most of these political marketing efforts, however, has been the almost suffocating absence of professionalism. It seems the promoters of these campaigns are simply contented with promoting their candidates without bothering to know whether or not they are making the desired impact on the ultimate consumer – the electorates. Aside a few exceptions, most has been anything but effective. In an issues-based polity devoid of sentiments, where rationality prevails over emotionalism and or tribal sentiments, these political marketing efforts would simply not sell the products being advertised; in this case the aspirants. Any casual observer of political developments in Nigeria since the emergence of social media, would not disagree that the electorates are becoming more and more enlightened. There is a gradual, though still slow, shift from voter docility as had been the case in the past to a more inquisitive one. Although the politics of eba, amala and ewedu still prevails, the average voter today is more likely to eat your eba or amala and still go ahead to vote against you, if he perceives that there is more to the Greek gift than meets the eye. If any proof of this is needed, the recent governorship election in Ekiti State is one. The relative modest achievement of Governor Kayode Fayemi notwithstanding, the people did not lose sight of the flight of capital from the state treasury to the Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, residence of Governor Fayemi’s political benefactor. They bided their time, and seize it with both hands when it came. They simply said a resounding NO to the subterfuge that would have seen further pillaging of the state treasury. Enough, they said, was enough. It did not matter to them that an Ayo Fayose, already tainted in his first sojourn as governor of the state, may turn out this time around to be an uncontrollable devourer of the state treasury. Whatever the case may be, credit for the political consciousness of the average Nigerian voter today must go to what is remaining of the rapidly disappearing and frustrated witnesses of the Second and Third Republic politics of displacement, disempowerment and subterfuge which eventually culminated in the infamous annulment of what is perceived to be the freest and fairest election ever to hold in Nigeria. Having been beaten twice, these relatively enlightened class of Nigerians now prefer to be circumspect, preferring to vote on the web via ipads, blackberry phones, laptops and other techno-gadgets, deploying their intellect, knowledge and experience in other climes to project and promote alternative approach to governance in Nigeria. Unfortunately, and like all things produced enmass, this has come with a heavy price as can be witnessed in most political campaigns of today. Read or watch any Nigerian defending his position today and you would be bombarded with either “there is no alternative” (TINA) or this is “the only way” (TOW). Yet we are told that there are many ways to arrive at a destination. How then should political marketing be conducted? Below steps are instructive but not exhaustive. 1. POLITICAL RESEARCH: This involves a systematic way of identifying: a. The needs and interests of different category of eligible voters of a particular area b. Voters opinion about issues c. The attitude of voters 2. POLITICAL SURVEY: This involves determining: a. The demography of eligible voters in a particular area b. The differences in the ages, gender and the interests of the different age distribution c. The distribution in terms of rural-urban composition, and d. The influence of other interest groups A good understanding of these factors would inform the fashioning out of the most appropriate campaign approach that would influence the electorates. I would like to see, for example, a campaign strategy that carefully highlights what the dominant needs of the aged rural dwellers in a particular area are, and how to address those needs. 3. FOCUSED GROUP DISCUSSION: After the first two stages comes focused group discussion, in which case the interest(s) of the different groups are thoroughly analyzed, discussed, dissected and a template or a stage by stage program of action developed as a strategy to fulfilling them. For instance, if a geographical area is made up predominantly of farmers, then a good campaign strategy should be able to show a workable way of increasing farmers’ productivity and income without much cost to them. It is not enough to simply say “Mr. A is the most qualified man for the job” without showing in concrete terms what qualifies him to be the most qualified man to be voted for. 4. PACKAGING: This is the way and manner a candidate is being projected to the public so as to attract favourable perception. A candidate may be projected as “caring”, “kind”, “intelligent”, “a good listener”, “capable”, “competent”, “knowledgeable” etc. This is the point at which the candidate is actually sold to voters, and depending on the way the candidate is packaged, he may or may not attract a buy-in. The dominant theme in packaging are pictures, symbols, slogans and sloganeering, hence you hear things like “the caring governor” or “the chief servant” etc., aptly illustrated in pictures and symbols that depict the message being conveyed. But it is not enough to simply say an aspirant is caring, or that he is “the man with a vision”. How? A good campaign advert should be able to illustrate or show proof of that, otherwise it will sound hollow and unconvincing. Packaging is done utilizing radio, television, newspapers and magazines, posters, pamphlets, bulletins, social or virtual media. In political marketing emphasis is placed on highlighting the candidate’s strong points as against the opponent’s weak points. Persuasion styles range from fear appeal, attack appeal, one-sided argument, or two-sided argument. In fear appeal approach, emphasis is placed on scaring voters away from the opponents, e.g. by way of saying that something bad will happen if the opponent is voted into office. Here it helps to give an instance of a previous valid mistake the opponent had made in an earlier assignment. Attack appeal approach involves making damaging allegations, (in our country this is often spurious) against the opposition. It should be used towards election time when the opponent will not have time to refute it. One-sided argument approach emphasizes that a particular course is the only right way. Here, the candidate tries to avoid engaging the opposition in argument. President Jonathan used this approach in his 2011 presidential election when he carefully avoided presidential debate with the opposition candidate. In advanced democracies (e.g. the United States of America), one-sided argument approach is often seen as the tactic of somebody who lacks self-confidence or someone who has no clear agenda, or one who is arrogant and regards the opposition with disdain. This is why a two-sided argument approach is more preferable and often used. two-sided argument approach involves a debate on critical issues, in which both sides are given the opportunity to defend their positions in an attempt to convince voters on why they should be voted for. The winning strategy in a two-sided argument is often to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, while also puncturing those strengths with your own counter arguments, and at the same time juxtaposing your own weaknesses with his own, and thus presenting your own weaknesses as the lesser evil. Culled from Frank Ofili
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 13:09:31 +0000
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