"I believe the only winning ad strategy is to signal empathy for non-college whites in swing states who remain on the fence. . . . "Laughing' is a huge error on Biden's part."
Tony Farrell, Brand Strategist
It's showtime.
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| No Malarkey |
Biden is in Iowa, on a "No Malarkey" Bus Tour. He is showing himself to be aggressive and feisty, telling one voter "You are a damn liar!" and challenging him to a push up contest. Biden said that Buttigieg "stole" Biden's health plan. He is telling reporters that the real Democratic party is more moderate than Sanders and Warren and especially AOC.
It is now Fighting Joe.
Biden put up an in-Trump's-face ad, showing world leaders chuckling over Trump's behavior. He is talking to Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire. You don't like Trump, I don't like Trump, and look at how I mock him. It might serve that purpose.
Longer run, I wrote yesterday, it backfires, because the people doing the mocking are European and Canadian leaders who represent and demonstrate elitist smug condescension, precisely the people and behavior swing voters resent.
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| Click here |
Guest Post by Tony Farrell
Joe Biden’s advertising team, in no time, put together “The World Is Laughing (at Trump)” and it’s a quick-cut 60-second assemblage of news videos with a concluding voiceover by the candidate, urging viewers to replace Trump with “a leader the world respects.”
Ads like this make it easy to forget that the general election is a year away, because “Laughing” seems designed for the presidential election, not the Democratic primaries. Aimed at primary voters, its intention must be to show how Biden will take on Trump—attacking the president’s fragile ego with mockery, and using his own words ("laughing at us") against him. If you don’t like Trump, it’s fun to watch.
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| Tony Farrell |
In the presidential election next November, I believe that radical progressiveness is the greatest threat to a Democratic win, embodied in the far-left stances of Warren and Sanders. But with any Democratic candidate this November, I believe the only winning ad strategy is to signal empathy for non-college whites in swing states who remain on the fence; who feel invisible (but not to Trump); who’ve been fed a shit-sandwich for the last two decades of unequal economic growth; and who fear being lost in continued polarization.
Backfire. Most voters agree on most things, and the vast majority of voters long for a return to civility, cooperation and bi-partisanship to achieve worthy goals. There are strong media forces fighting that sentiment (as the battles are great for ratings) but a calming, fair-minded leader (think Roosevelt 1932) who appears able to connect with both sides of an apparent divide can win all of those swing states. Of course, advertising is just one piece of a campaign strategy, and it’s hard to know the impact. (The infamous “Willie Horton” ad ran in paid media only once; all other exposure came from news stories about it!)
In any event, for these reasons, I believe “Laughing” is a huge error on Biden’s part; good only for entertainment and reinforcement of prejudices against Trump. And it lowers Biden’s stature as a conciliating force for the good of the whole country.
[Tomorrow, a different view, a guest post from Peter Lemieux, who presents polling data showing there are few swing voters and an ad like this one resonates with Democrats--the people Biden needs to convince.]
[Tomorrow, a different view, a guest post from Peter Lemieux, who presents polling data showing there are few swing voters and an ad like this one resonates with Democrats--the people Biden needs to convince.]
2 comments:
Republicans will hammer Sen. Biden about Hunter and unfortunately there's really no way around it.
I think Sen. Biden is in a box. It doesn't matter whether anything illegal was done, it looks corrupt. It taints his message and he apparently has no strategy to neutralize it, other than aggrieved denials. He never should have run, especially knowing that this would become an issue. It seems they feel Democratic animus towards Trump will allow him to weather the controversy and secure the nomination, but it's a pretty cynical political calculation, and will no doubt trigger "lock him up" chants in the general.
Great.
While I agree with Peter and Tony that this "Laughing" ad was a terrible idea and will only alienate any "fence-sitters" out there, I have to disagree with the "centrist" argument about a "radical left" (both in quotes because they reflect a malignant normalization of these terms). It can be argued that Sanders and Warren are to the right of FDR. Regardless, liberal corporatists (aka "moderates," "centrists"), even when they don't look down their noses at the fly-over fence-sitters, still have a hard time understanding why some of these folks who voted for Obama voted for Trump in the last election. Frankly, as a Sanders supporter, I much prefer talking to populist conservatives, even Trump supporters, than self-identified "moderate/centrists" who seem willfully ignorant of, or uncaring about, the damage neoliberal policies have wrought. Perhaps, as we continue on this unsustainable trajectory they, too, will join the ranks of the disenfranchised.
Andy Seles
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