Sadness envelops even the Bula benches in this period, when gray choices weigh on our hearts. But, because we are responsible adults, we put aside the ally and do our duty. We talk politics, analyze the situation, try to clear our minds and vote over the next three weekends. Dana PascuIndependent Strategy Consultant, sees no differentiator in this campaign, at the communication level.
“If instead of candidates there were some shampoos with functional benefits that were credible, I tend to believe that at least some would have received high-quality promotional services, but in the current situation, nobody has managed to communicate what they don’t have ( a personality, a vision, an ok plan), not even with the help of those they threw a lot of money into”, says Dana.
We continue to talk with Dana Pascu about shampoos and politicians, archetypes used in communication strategy, Reddit jokes and what ultimately matters when you cast your vote.
What annoys you the most about the campaign so far
The feeling that the elections pass and the problems remain to be solved by the citizens themselves, as usual.
It’s hard to pick just one reason to be angry, but probably the thing that annoys me the most is the lack of concrete solutions to people’s needs and that systemic problems (which the entire current political class has been driving for the last 25 years) are simply ignored by most parties and candidates, especially those who aspire to the position of president. Every time I pass a billboard with their plastic faces or am interrupted by an election banner, I’m reminded that those materials are paid for with public money to play democratic tricks.
what do you like
That the elections are really passing and we won’t hear from some of the candidates for at least a while.
What caught your attention, in terms of messages & political image
It struck me that no serious advertising agency and no recognized communications professional seems to have been really involved in the presidential campaign, at least not in a publicly assumed way. From the rather unsuccessful way in which the communication materials show, I deduce that they worked as much as possible with the candidates’ own ideas and their rigidity, with the internal resources of political communication specialists from the parties (who had no one to learn this from profession beyond theory) or with external consultants who may have sold their time but did not give their interest or the full extent of their talents to any candidate or party because they did not believe in the product for a moment.
If instead of candidates there were some shampoos with functional benefits that were somewhat credible, I tend to think that at least some would have received high-quality promotion services (maybe even probono), but in the current situation, here is that no one managed to it communicates what it doesn’t have (an ok personality, vision and/or plan), not even with the help of those they threw a lot of money into.
Photo credit: Dana Pascu
The 2024 campaign compared to other years
Many people think that for a successful election campaign you only need an ok picture, a clever slogan and millions of euros. In the Romania of 2024, this was not so far from the truth. As long as media space was bought with all the money (especially in the pre-campaign), the message and face became less important. The weight/amount of media exposure compared to any other component of communication seemed to me to be the main difference.
The OSCE’s election observation missions in Romania have researched and mentioned in their reports (2020, 2024) how the strong influence of political parties distorts the media landscape, encourages self-censorship and erodes independent journalism. I am quoting roughly from such a report: “The Broadcasting Law does not include provisions for addressing conflicts of interest between media owners and political parties, although it has been recommended repeatedly to clarify this topic. Major political parties spend millions of euros (received from the state budget) on political advertising, while sponsored content is not always marked as such, making it impossible for voters to differentiate between genuine journalistic content and material paid for by parties. Although spending on political advertising appears to have steadily increased, transparency and monitoring of the spending of public money remains a problem. There are no transparency mechanisms, and as long as the contracts signed by political parties with media institutions remain secret, the consolidation of clientelism between political parties and mass media is facilitated. In the country/regional media the situation is probably even more worrying.”
So, if I take into account the very poor quality of the electoral messages communicated extremely aggressively, the media exposure obtained through obscure means, but especially if I also look at the percentages of those who did not win, but insisted, all I saw in 2024 as a “big election campaign” was actually rather a waste of public money, donations, volunteering, attention and energy of ordinary people, therefore a sabotage of democracy.
Archetypes
Returning to the pictures and messages, I notice that we have proposals of leaders who look good in pictures and others who look very bad no matter how many photos or retouches are done to them. Some may have been protected by well-meaning colleagues from the mirage of excessive image post-processing, but I wouldn’t say that any of the builds are really good. If you meant brand image, not just visual impression, I haven’t seen anyone have a coherent concept or materials that make any sense together.
I don’t know what archetype of incoherence or incompetence this would be, but if a convention of Jungian archetypes has been used in advertising for so long, I also offer you a post-Jungian variant feat. Reddit (I mean a joke, so please don’t take it as more than that) with some “shadow” archetypes or possible clues as to what any of the surface idealizations of the various characters may be hiding behind.
From my point of view, at least one candidate I think wanted to sell us the “Criminal” package in the “Outlaw” bag, another the “Lover” offer with the free “Seducer” option, another the “Follower” subscription labeled ” Everyman”, but we better spin each wheel for himself, who knows, maybe it even helps to choose the “lesser evil” faster.
distinction
I don’t think anyone will remember anything differentiating from this year’s campaigns, and maybe it’s better that way.
If someone had proposed a law that all political ads look exactly the same, no one would have approved it, but look, ignorance gifted them with a similar effect.
Western influence
I don’t think anything was adapted, but we all saw how pieces of speeches or campaigns were directly copied without any logic and how they only helped to fill the media space.
Photo credit: Dana Pascu
The relationship between image, reality, political doctrine
The image seems bought, falsified or created contextually-accidentally, a symptom of the lack of contact with reality and the fact that political doctrine only counts as “scary”.
If only this campaign had a book title
The saddest 100 bubble banks.
Why do you take into account when you vote?
I want to vote one day with a candidate who is guided by values as close as possible to mine and who proposes solutions that I also want, without red flags.
By then I had accepted the idea that I would vote with whoever seemed to have the least potential for disaster, lest there be a next time.
Source: www.iqads.ro
