The Republican Scare: A Branding Nightmare

[babylonsister]

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=457

The Republican Scare: A Branding Nightmare
Filed under: General, Propaganda — Mark @ 2:29 am

In 1982, potassium cyanide laced pain relievers killed 7 people in Chicago and led to the collapse of a popular consumer medication. The Tylenol Scare resulted in a market share drop from 35% to 8%. In the aftermath of this tragedy, a new standard for packaging was adopted to prevent product tampering. But Tylenol still needed to persuade the public that their product was safe to purchase and use. In pursuit of that goal, they embarked on an unprecedented marketing campaign to confront what may have been the most daunting public relations challenge in history.

This is precisely the position that the Republican Party finds itself in today. After six years of a toxic administration whose policies have led to a poisoning of public discourse; with corruption infecting Capital Hill, the Justice Department, the Pentagon, and the White House; and a president whose market share is dipping into historic lows; Republicans have concluded that they need to persuade the American people that their brand of politics is safe for our families and our country. In pursuit of that goal, the Republican Leader in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, has embarked on a marketing campaign to repair the party’s brand.

snip//

This nicely illustrates how Republicans plan to mount their comeback - with a shallow facade and a dearth of substance. It is a profoundly superficial approach that addresses only the PR aspects of the problem and does nothing to cleanse the party of contaminants or seal it to prevent further calamity. This is analogous to what would have occurred if Tylenol had launched their PR effort while leaving millions of bottles of possibly tainted medicine on the shelves of the nation’s pharmacies. Their rehabilitation would not have been particularly effective if new victims kept showing up in the morgue.

The Republican Party doesn’t appear to be concerned about the production of more victims. The practical result of their strategy insures that the deceptions that led to the war in Iraq, and the war itself, are going to persist into an indefinite future. The incompetent and compromised Alberto Gonzalez will continue to lead the Travesty of Justice Department. Bribery and extortion will remain the keystones of legislative business in Washington. And secrecy and deceit will gain momentum as a means to conceal the scars on the body of American Democracy.

The Tylenol Scare was a sad milestone in our nation’s commercial history that devastated a handful of innocent families. The Republican Scare has proven far more destructive leaving thousands of families, in the U. S. and Iraq, forever ruined. And all they have to say for themselves is that they’re polishing their brand. Unfortunately for them, the Republican Scare is their brand now. Due to their incessant promotion of fear in pursuit of power, they are wedded to this new identity whether they like it or not. Even if they could stuff that genie back into the bottle, by today’s standards that would constitute product tampering and you can’t sell those sort of fouled wares in this country anymore…..I hope.

[Old and In the Way]

1. The RNC is not a political party, it's an organized crime syndicate.

The brand is dying and I see nothing that will change it in the short-mid term. I don't think they are capable of changing. Why? Because the national organization is too corrupted. They cannot allow honest candidates with integrity to gain insider knowledge of their operation. They operate on a simple proposition - you give us your vote and we'll turn a blind eye to whatever financial deals you can cut in your position as a legislator. That 'philosophy' worked for awhile, but the bills are coming due. They've emptied the Treasury and proven incapable of governing in any semblance of a responsible manner. Those that haven't figured it out will in the coming months.

[Demeter]

2. The GOP Doesn't Deserve a Second Chance

This was not some little overreaching, a little fiddling, pushing the envelope to see where it would give.

This was a public coup, with lots of nudges and winks and screams from the violated, and every single member of the GOP was a participant.