Spots Electorales. El espectáculo de la democracia - Soymenos.net

Campaign Diary Roberto AlfaCampaign Diary Roberto Alfa52 535 days to goSlogan and adhesive ability3 days to goSlogan and adhesive ability (part 2)We picked the main slogan of the campaignmonths ago: “Of course you can”. And thesecondary one: “Think about it and vote”.Nothing new, but then campaigns never are.That’s the thing about the democracy show;wherever you buy your ticket, you’ll always getto see the same performance. In the beginningwe argued a lot about the expression “ofcourse…”. Normally you’d just say, “Yes, youcan” or “You can”. Adding “of course” as ameans of affirmation, of confirmation, runsthe risk of seeming didactic or paternal. Andthough we do want to be didactic or paternal,we don’t want people to notice. At the sametime “of course...” gives a touch of ease, ofconvenience, of feasibility which stresses normalityin the idea of change. It’s as if someonehad cleared up all your doubts. A woman onthe team pointed out one day half jokinglythat it seemed like a slogan for Viagra. Andthat’s true. Precisely because of that suggestivecomparison, we decided to use lots of middleagedpeople in the ads who could in some waysubliminally take in the message. At the sametime, “Of course you can” goes down well withyoung people and women who are always indecisive.We don’t care about old people: theyonly vote based on old emotions and becausethe very stupid ones think that voting is liketaking out life insurance.Miguel has also chosen the predictable, moreof the same: “The value of things well done”.Nevertheless, I’m surprised by such a longsentence that is so open to interpretation inevery word. Naturally they’re going to defendthe previous legislature, but there’s somethingstrange in the relationship between the words.It’s as if they’d said: “Well, we’ve done a goodjob, and so let’s move right along”. I think Ialready mentioned that Miguel is an intellectual,so these types of slogans shouldn’t reallysurprise me. Going for that type of thing suggestsa campaign based around data, figuresand statistics, in other words a camouflagewar. That’s no problem. I’m ready for it. Ifthey want a war, they can have one.The mission of any electoral message or slogan is tobring a personal (colloquial and close) form of the ideologyand programme into the media. It has to be a shortand expressive, incisive and mechanical phrase whichbrings to mind the “core idea” of the campaign. It is, inshort, a set of motor words which can’t allow for toomany plays on meaning, only the required ones; and forthat reason it is an important choice. The slogan is irremissiblyassociated with repetition; it uses it to take holdin the mind and to inject (above all) a series of images.A slogan fi nds its place for interpretation in an electionad, a projection which it does not have in other propagandamedia save for the radio. In the ad the sloganmay be an argument, conclusion or coda, but what iscertain is that it reveals its real enunciative meaningand can reach that much sought-after emotional dimension.If the slogan can be pumped up in the broadcast ad,then the campaign will be a roaring adhesive success.The bosses don’t dare to use the expression“firm hand”. Yet I know we’d be right onthe button. The ad has turned out to be too“similar”. The office tells me it should be likethat, that it’s good if we are similar to reachout to the undecided voters. That means theyhave no idea about “undecided voters”. It’s aquestion of being a ventriloquist, of speakingwithout appearing to do so, in order that fora few weeks you don’t look like yourself, youcan reinvent yourself and demonstrate yourcharisma (I guess that’s true both for the bossand for me). The important thing is renewingthe brand, like when my son gives me atraditional milkshake but in a new ergonomicbottle (maybe the kid is more like me). Politicsis pure business ergonomics, a mere exercisein adherence. Here the undecided don’t countfor much, they’re like the customers who “still”haven’t bought your product: the questionis keeping those you’ve already got loyal andselling the same as the others, but cheaper andmore fashionable.A good campaign has to have an unmistakably adhesivefeature. Getting things to stick in people’s ears andeyes and in the senses as a whole is fundamental forgetting them to stick in the voter’s heart. Fixing them inthe mind will come about as a result of all of this, butonly later on; a campaign is a perishable product whichmust be consumed quickly.Some time ago there was a story in the papers abouta group of US researchers who had discovered the partof the brain which makes us get hooked on songs. Theyget stuck in your mind, you carry them around with youand you get caught humming them in the most unexpectedplaces. It doesn’t matter whether you hate theseditties as they stay hidden before springing out on you,and when you hear them again you hum along almostwithout wanting to. This is a good time to recall Alfa’spoetic remarks (see below) about the repetitive gameshe would play with words as a child.But in our medicalised society someone has alreadythought about whether it would be possible to find acure for this torment. There are research projects whichare trying to solve the mystery of the catchy summertune, of the smash hit anchored in this inhospitablepart of our brain. Finding those features and being ableto control them would be a gold mine for audiovisualproduction.A group of scientists from Dartmouth in the UnitedStates have found the part of the brain where a songis recorded in our memories; it is in the auditory cortexwhich coordinates all the information from our ears.The American researchers experimented with volunteersand made them listen to well-known songs. Theyrealised that when the tune stopped, the auditory cortexremained active which meant that the catchy songcontinued playing in the brains of the volunteers.