Reply #29: "Brand" doesn't pull its punches...more of the sordid stuff they do. [View All]

[madfloridian]

From Wired News:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70321-0.html

"How do you win a presidential election in Bolivia? Give the same answer to every question. Study the polls. Don't spend too much time meeting voters. Buy attack ads making your rival look like the greater of two evils. In other words, do exactly as your well-compensated, slick-suited American political consultants tell you. That's the route Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, aka Goni, took in his 2002 campaign.

The documentary Our Brand Is Crisis opens a window onto a troubling trend: the export of high-tech, American political consultants to countries around the world. Brand, which opened in New York this week, follows as strategists James Carville, Jeremy Rosner and Stan Greenberg spin Goni toward the presidency.

...."Unemployment, poverty and class tension are rising, and Goni's American strategists, who openly admit how little they know about Bolivia, seem powerless to help. What they can do, however, is drive down opponents' approval ratings.

GCS's mission includes the international promotion of a pragmatic, Clinton-style blend of progressive social policies and business-friendly economics. But the company's data-crunching and Nike-style marketing skills are no substitute for an understanding of the complexities of Bolivian society."

Alarming. If we do it there, do we do it here?