PROMOTING THE PRESIDENCY

If you have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get people to buy your product, it stands to reason that there must be something wrong with the product.     

 
      In an election year the promotion business spikes. In normal times we are subjected to video and audio programs that are fifty percent product promotion, and newspapers, magazines and junk mail that all depend on advertising for income and profit. In election years a special kind of product appears from political parties in the form of candidates for Federal, State and local offices, and promotion is heavy and varied. A candidate fits the description as a product because promotion is handled in much the same way as promotion of a car, a new suit or a trip to Hawaii. Election strategies are centered on packaging, just as commercial items are packaged to attract buyers.

    We should distinguish between two kinds of promotion: one is elevation in position such as moving from professor to department chair, captain to major, engineer to chief engineer, vice president to CEO, head waiter to maitre d’, governor of a state to the presidency. Some promotions, like the first and last examples take place by elections. Others (the large majority) may be the decision of one or two people in upper management.
   
    The second form of promotion is advertising, where publicizing the merits of a product is necessary to capture customers. Needless to say, the production of advertising is both a lucrative and highly competitive business.  Advertising expense depends on the product, but in every case it is an investment on which a positive return is expected or hoped for. In some cases no amount of advertising will rescue a product that somehow got off to a bad start.

    The Apple I-phone is an example of a product on which there was a huge return on minimal, but smart promotion. The public stood in lines to purchase when it came on the market.

`    Solar panels are a good product, but the benefits are long range. Return on investment is not so good, so advertising is cautious. People lean to products where the reward is immediate.

    The ill-conceived Ford Edsel is an example of a product where no amount of promotion would make it a success, as it’s debut was met with public scorn at not living up to prior hype.

    Governor Romney is the Republican party’s product as candidate for the presidency of the United States. In many ways he is considered a marginal product, even at the highest levels of the party. This year’s election will be a test of whether it is true that no amount of money will convince people to buy a marginal product as we witness the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to pedal a single item. The simple fact of having to spend so much underscores the obvious: The product doesn’t measure up.

    So. Will the American voter be romanced into voting for the Republicans’ Edsel? Or will  the more prudent side of judgement decide that the GM Chevy, barely broken in, a few paint scratches and a dent or two but operating reliably on all six, is the better bet for the next four years?

This commentary was originally  posted on www.speakwithoutinterruption.com.