Changing colours
- 19 Apr 06, 11:44 AM
I've a confession. I like Dave the cycling chameleon. He makes me smile - but will caricaturing the Opposition leader as a reptile work for Labour?
It already has. Party Election Broadcasts are a national excuse to go for a pee, switch on the kettle or to get another beer out of the fridge. Our changeable friend has already got masses of what American political consultants call "free media" - in other words, ads you don't pay for.
Ah but, you say, the public hate negative advertising. To which I say - nonsense, poppycock and balderdash. People say they don't like negative advertising and they may even mean it but, boy, they remember it when it's good.
Yes but, you persist, Labour are merely helping to remind people that David Cameron rides a bike, that he claims to be green and surely if being a chameleon were a problem then Tony Blair would never have won 3 elections. He proved that the public (or enough of them, anyway) do not belief it's inconsistent to say you care about poverty but are tough on crime or, even, Iraq. Fair point but not, I believe, a clincher.
Too often people assume that an ad has to persuade people to switch their support if it is "to work". It doesn't. It needs to cheer up your activists and persuade them to go out in the rain to get others to go out in the rain to vote. I supect that's why "Dave the chameleon" was seen in last night's broadcast wearing a straw boater sipping champagne whilst being driven around in a stretch limo. That's why he was pictured with John Major & Norman Lamont. That's why they used a Cameron quote about him being "Conservative to the core". Labour was reminding its own that Cameron is one of "the same old Tories".
Only one person will ultimately decide whether this ad works though. It's the real "Dave". If, when he starts to commit himself to any policies, they appear to contradict his claims to be green, to being driven by the need to help the disadvantaged or to support working Mums then the chameleon charge will stick. If not, "Dave" will go the way of the Tories "New Labour New Danger" poster. Into the bin.
Remember though that the real Dave's in a much trickier position than Tony was when he became party leader. A lot of the policy heavy lifting had already been done by Neil Kinnock. The Tories have barely yet begun.
