Stuntology is an inexact science, but a reasonable case could be made for saying that those politicians with the self-confidence and the chutzpah to carry off a stunt effectively are also likely to be election winners. Perhaps that animosity had already, in the jargon, been ‘priced in’ and people were just pleased to see them looking so happy. People still remember Tony Blair buying Gordon Brown an ice cream cone during the 2005 election, smiles all round.Įveryone knew that the two men could barely stand to be in the same room together by this stage. What gives the campaign strategist hope is knowing that occasionally a stunt that might be expected to produce a collective groan or belly-laugh actually works. They almost never change perceptions dramatically. They work when they reinforce a view that most inattentive voters are generally inclined to accept. Pretty unsophisticated stuff but it’s a fact of modern political life. Stunts grab attention because the media in all its forms demands images and images stick in the mind. Neither vehicle was seen by many people in person but the images lived on long after the garage doors were thankfully shut. Labour’s Pink Bus was widely regarded as unsophisticated at best or patronising at worst in its attempt to appeal to women voters. Long before Theresa May took to the stage as the world’s most improbable Dancing Queen she was associated with those vans touring London warning illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest”. The same risks apply to stunts on wheels as they do more generally, however. I think you know the bus I’m thinking of. The advertising standards authority is powerless to intervene if you make outrageous claims. You can paint things on them for a few quid and off you go. They are a cheap way of providing a picture for the papers or the TV news. Visual amplification is the reason we still see those campaign buses, surely the product of a bygone age, on our streets. If the answer is no, or at best maybe, then shut up about it. Could he be trusted? If the answer is yes, no need to say it. It failed because it amplified the message of Miliband’s opponents rather than his own. But can you remember any of them? No, me neither. Its defenders, and there are still a few, argue that any publicity stunt is a good publicity stunt if it gets the product talked about, in this case those pledges. Remember the Ed Stone? That ill-fated attempt by Ed Miliband back in 2015 (was it really only four years ago?) to prove the immutability of his election pledges was doomed from the first tap of a chisel. When they go wrong they can hang round your neck like a millstone. Successful ones certainly produce short-term benefits, but these are soon forgotten. They know their use always comes with high attendant risks. Wise politicians, or their advisers, resort to them sparingly. And they will go on pulling them for as long as they need to reassure their support base or seek new votes. That’s why political leaders have been pulling them ever since Caligula appointed his horse Incitatus to the Roman Senate, if not before. Political stunts almost always have an effect. Suggested reading What's the point of political stunts?
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