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Free Essays - Politics Essays
Analyze the constituent parts that have made up the 2005 General Electioncampaign for the Labour Party.
According to Gamble the actual workings of the mass democracy hasdivided the political market into two camps. These are those that compete foroffice and those that vote. Like the producers and consumers in economicmarkets it is a mistake to believe that these two functions are of equalimportance. One is active, creative and continuous; the other is passive,receptive and intermittent (Wring 2005 quoting Gamble, p.3). It seems thatthis is the view taken by those in charge of the 2005 national electioncampaign. The Labour Party employs all the strategies and techniques ofmarketing and public relations in its effort to use the media and communicate itsmessage to the British public.
The Party Organisation
The main people in charge of the 2005 Labour Election Campaign atnational headquarters include politicians, permanent officials, marketingconsultants, polling advisers, lobbyists, public relations professionals andadvertising executives. These include: Alan Milburn, MP and Labour ElectionCo-ordinator, taking over from Gordon Brown, Chancellor, who was the 2001Labour Election Co-ordinator, Alastair Campbell, former Number 10 PressSecretary and Senior Media Adviser, Ian McCartney- Government and Party Chair andJohn Prescott- Deputy Leader of the Party.
According to Milburn, the General Election Strategy Group is chairedby The Prime Minister, Tony Blair and its membership consists of Milburn,Brown, Prescott, McCartney and the General Secretary of the Party (1). Despite Mr.Brown's statements indicating he has been marginalized in the campaign, Milburnargues that Gordon has an absolutely central part in it and is vital to acampaign that is focusing on the economy (1). TBWA/London is the advertisingcompany that has secured the five million pound advertising account forLabour's 2005 campaign.
A great deal of attention had been given to the fact that Labour'snational election headquarters were located at Millbank Tower in centralLondon, costing Labour 1 million pound a year and resembling a corporatestructure employing hundreds of members of staff. The nucleus of activity was awar room with an open plan office layout to encourage interpersonalcommunication (Wring 2001). Millbank Tower operations have been associated withthe image of a Party obsessed with PR and Marketing rather than real issues,the so-called 'Millbank Tendency' of powerful, unaccountable advisers basedaround Blair (Wring, 2005 p.141). Whether to diminish this image or forcost-related reasons, the Labour campaign operations have relocated for the2005 campaign.
The Political Market
According to Gamble the political market consists of three components:the mass electorate, competition between two or more parties for the votes ofthe electorate and a set of rules governing the competition (Wring 2001). Inthe case of the 2005 Parliamentary Election, the mass electorate is all the UK citizens eligible to vote, the main competitors are the Labour Party, the Conservativesand the Liberal Democrats acting as third party.
The Labour Party's main opponent in this two- party system is theConservative Party with the candidacy of Tory Leader Michael Howard. Howard is aself-made man, consistent with conservative values:Michael Howard's life has been governed by the values he grew up with andstill believes in today: hard work; fairness; honesty; tolerance; andpatriotism (http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=michael.howard.about.page).The Conservative 2005 Manifesto is accusing the Labour government ofmismanagement: Today, government is spending too much, wasting too much and taxingtoo much (http://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/quote.jsp?id=70).The main slogans of the Conservative campaign are: Value for Money and LowerTaxes We need a PM who rolls up his sleeves and gets things done and Actionfor Controlled Immigration (http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=michael.howard.page).As a result of the Conservative pledge to halt immigration and the wave ofasylum seekers into the UK, Howard has been criticized of using racist andinflammatory language.
The second major opponent to the Labour Party and the third party thatmight potentially divert Labour voters (much like Ralph Nader's Green Partydiverted Democratic votes from Al Gore in the US 2001 Presidential election) isthe Liberal Democrats with the candidacy of Charles Kennedy. The LiberalDemocrats represent the true Left Wing and are a socialist party- almost like aghost from the Old Labour past and presents itself as the real alternative,implying that New Labour does not offer a substantial alternative to theConservative Party. The Liberal Democrats oppose the UK's presence in Iraq, support welfare state values, responsibility towards the environment and socialjustice.
The UK is a parliamentary democracy with a first past the post,proportional representation electoral system that paradoxically encourages theemergence of a two-party system. The system generates disproportional resultsin terms of the ration between the number of votes gained and the number ofseats acquired in parliament. As a result, little attention is given to thesmall parties which have little chance of securing a substantial number ofseats in the parliament.
Campaign Mix
Tony Blair's statements on the nature and objectives of New Labour seekto convince that it is not a superficial marketing and public relationsproduct: I want to make one thing very, very clear indeed. New Labour is notsome public relations exercise. It's not a marketing gimmick. It is a new anddifferent changed Labour Party. It is changed in opposition and it will remainchanged in government, and nobody should be in any doubt about that at all(Wring 2005 quoting Blair, p.2). However, an analysis of the ingredients thatgo into the election campaign suggest that marketing principles play a verycentral role indeed.
According to Wring the campaign mix consists of the givens -marketand environmental considerations and the controllables -the strategicdecisions adopted as part of the campaign's marketing programme (Wring 2001).The mix can also be interpreted as the 4Ps of product, promotion, place andprice. The product consists of party image, leader image and policy commitments.Party image, based on the assumption that voters behave based on partisanidentification and on what the party has done in the past, is created from theparty's past record and recent history. Leader image relates to recent studiespointing out the presidentialisation of British politics (Wring 2005 p.4).
As the incumbent party, Labour seeks to convey an image of success,focusing on its achievements while in office, asking for a chance to furtherbuild on these achievements, thus the official slogan Britain forward not back. Labour emphasizes its successes and the economic growth achievedwhile it was in office and seeks to show people how Labour will benefit youand your family in a third term; in its official website, Labour even asks thepublic to submit their details and be informed of the tangible ways in whichthey, their families and their communities will benefit from a third term withLabour (http://www.labour.org/personalised_promises/promise_form.php).Labour also makes six tangible pledges to the British public, which are: yourfamily better off, your child achieving more, your children with the beststart, your family treated better and faster, your community safer and yourcountry's borders protected.
In relation to leader image, Tony Blair is striving to rid himself ofthe image of the leader who does not listen to the people; this is indicatedin a recent statement by Blair: And then all of a sudden there you are, theBritish people, thinking: you're not listening and I think: you're not hearingme. And before you know it I raise my voice. I raise mine(http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools). To do this, Blair is usingsymbolic speech and gestures trying to convey a sense of personal relationshipbetween him and the public, but is also employing the masochism strategy oftalking to a hostile group of people on television. This is intended to makethe leader appear to be aware of people's concerns and give people a sense ofempowerment (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools).
Blair also seeks to present himself as a modern, young and energeticbloke who shares many of the interests of the average British citizen. He ishusband and young father as well as politician. Blair also aims to employ thepersonal charm which he feels he possesses to woo the British public.Indicative of this is a reportage by BBC News titled Rekindling the Labourlove affair, arguing that Blair is using romantic language and gestures (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools).
Promotion relates to the use of the Media in a campaign, which can bedivided into controlled/paid media and free media. Controlled mediaincludes advertising and any other form over which the producer has totalinfluence. Free media is the attention politicians get without paying for it e.g.in the news. The latter form of media attention has given rise to spindoctors manipulating the media for campaigning purposes (Wring 2005).
A useful definition of political advertising is offered by McNair whodefines it as the purchase and use of advertising space, paid for atcommercial rates, in order to transmit political messages to a mass audience.The media used for this purpose may include cinema, billboards, the press, radioand television (McNair 2003, p.97). It should be noted that in political ads,claims do not have to be backed, in contrast to commercial ads, leading toextensive use of symbolism, imagery as well as negative advertising. An exampleis the poster used by Labour showing Michael Howard fast asleep, dreaming ofhis secret agenda to destroy the NHS.
In relation to free media, Tony Blair's touring of the country and otheractivities aim to ensure that he is always receiving media attention andcoverage. The employment of the so-called spin doctors also aims to ensurethis.
Price enables a commercial firm to develop a strategy that will helpmaintain competitiveness and profitability in the marketplace (Wring 2001,p.5). Price includes economic themes like which Party will do the best for theeconomy and psychological themes such as the feel good factor or nation atease with itself e.g. stressing what is good about being British and livingin the UK.
According to Labour Election Co-ordinator Alan Milburn, the economy iscentral to the Labour campaign. Labour is using the incumbency advantagearguing that the economy is doing well because of Labour policies. Milburnargues that the economy is the big issue and I think people in the end willwant to ask 'who is the best party to run the economy?' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/4302103.stm).The Labour Party's campaign promises on the economy are to keep unemploymentlow, invest in public services and move people from welfare to work. Labour hasalso issued an announcement for its plan for a rise in the minimum wage. Labouris also asserting that the Conservatives are incompetent to handle the economyand that their plans don't add up.
In relation to national identity/psychological factors, Labour aims to present the 2005 election as presenting ahistoric choice to the British people, who have to make a choice for the futureof Britain and should be careful to make the right choice: in the end, thiscampaign is a choice for the country. There is a big choice, that is whatelections are (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/4302103.stm).
Place refers to the party geographic organization across the country's regionsand not just at national level: In politics the equivalent form oforganization is the party at sub national level. It helps co-ordinate volunteerlabour in order to identify and mobilize potential supporters during electioncampaigns (Wring 2001, p.4). Grassroots mobilization is extremely valuablehere, as indicated by recent statements by Labour that they plan to switch topersonalized campaigning through direct mail, email and telephone contact.
In conclusion, the 2005 election campaign effort is focusing its effortsto rid itself of the negative image associated with the New Labour, itsunresponsiveness and its artificial obsession with appearances and marketing.In contrast, Labour seeks to convey an image of a Party that has made greatsuccesses, but wants a chance to build upon the success and make Britain even better. Ironically, this is done with the help of marketing principles andspin doctor techniques.
Bibliography:
Wring, D. (2005) The Politics of Marketing the
Labour Party. Hampshire: Macmillan
McNair, B.(1999) An Introduction to Political Communication. London:
Routledge
Wring, D. Labouring the Point: operation victory and the battle for a second term. Journal of Marketing and Management Special Issue on the General Election. 2001 Vol 17 (9/10).
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