I came home tonight to find that yet another attempt to win me over via the mail. Over the past few weeks, I've been amazed at how many direct marketing campaign pieces I've received from those folks trying to become Mayor of our fair District. Somebody's killing a lot of trees in Rock Creek Park to try to win my vote...
Today was fairly typical. There was the big, glossy, brighly-colored Adrian Fenty piece trumpeting his support for education. It talks about how he was the champion of a school reform bill that would make our city's schools safer places for kids to learn and that would introduce new higher curriculm standards. You know, the typical sound byte. And the mailer had a centerfold image of Fenty making nice with adorable, suitably diverse young child models that we're supposed to assume go to public schools in DC. Right. This is the kind of marketing that I don't trust just cuz it's too good to be true. If wishes were unicorns...
Then, right on top of it in the mailbox was a nasty attack piece with a big old mean-looking picture of Fenty on it. Wow, what a contrast! It talks about how he wants to raise taxes, and how he's manipulative and is out to hurt the elderly and kids and whatnot. The whole piece talks about all the different ways Fenty is evil, and it's balanced with dramatic photos of a family, a child, and senior. You know, the people we're supposed to care about who are obviously being screwed by Fenty. Does this mailer include any information about an opponent's positions? Nope. Does it provide any alternative to Fenty? Nope. Where did it come from? Oh, paid for by some Committee to Elect Linda Cropp or something like that. Blech. Attack ads leave a bad taste in my mouth, and I don't like that Cropp was the first to go negative in a big way.
I haven't made my mind up about the mayoral race yet, and I really do need to do research into the candidates and their positions. But so far, I can say for sure that the greater the likelihood that I receive some ridiculous, expensive glossy print piece in the mail, the less the chances that I'll vote for that candidate. Issues, people, not marketing!
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4 comments:
Marketing is an important part of campaigning (says the political comm geek) - so don't hate on it!
In reality, it may be annoying to someone who is educated about it or may have been paying attention to what's going on - but the fact is a lot of people in DC (educated or not) probably don't know the election is coming up in 16 days...they have an idea something is happening - but not when. It's the last push, and I bet that for some people, those glossy ads will help determine who they like - simply based on which picture they identify with. Stupid and scary, but true.
AM: Yeah, and unfortunately I think that's the problem. Campaigning is just all about who's got the most money and can spend it to get their advertising out there. It's buying elections by trying to "buy" consumers, and there's no difference between political candidates and Coke or Pepsi. I'm feeling smug and cynical these days, and lately it just seems that politics is only all about the money and it doesn't even matter if people care about issues and wanting actual change. Bah humbug.
I have to agree, Stef - I got a piece about the PG County Executive race, and it was an attack ad against the current guy (Jack Johnson). But the challenger's name? Tiny little print on the back. If anything, all it did was give me name recognition for the person they were trying to attack. Poor choice, in my mind.
Personally I think attack ads (as distasteful as they may be) really only work on TV. Direct mail isn't the place for them.
Stef - where do you go for good info on the DC Mayoral race? I'm goign to check the NASW-DC chapter site and League of Women Voters... but I really do need to get myself educated. Got the DC voter's guide in the mail while I was gone. Haven't read it yet.
AS
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