Marcopolos

Who’s to blame for UKIP’s success at the polls in the recent council elections?

Tony Blair.

It goes without saying. He's to blame for most things, actually.

Not content with leading us into dead end wars in Iraq an Afghanistan, our ex prime minister is blinding Westminster in a legacy of guff – managerial politics.

Blair regularly argues, in lieu of any firm principles of his own, that under the 'ideological wrapping' of modern party politics there are practical problems that smart, rational individuals (read Tony Blair) will naturally work through to reach similar solutions, independent of ideology. Why bother with democracy at all, you might wonder... Run a battery of IQ tests, team building exercises and be done. We've picked the next cabinet.

Today, Cameron and Clegg, who mimic Blair down to every emphatic hand gesture, have painted themselves into a corner. These hollow project managers are stunned by UKIP's surprise coup and do not know how to respond. There simply isn't time to consult with enough focus groups. Blair floated along unchallenged during the heady days of the property bubble, but times have changed.

The notion that citizens want politicians who aim at the middle, don’t offend anybody, and run the country like a branch of Comet is being tested to destruction throughout Europe, as demonstrated by a revival of opinionated, rather obnoxious and often extremely unpleasant political parties and movements – the 5 Star Movement in Italy, the fascist Rising Dawn in Greece and our very own UKIP.

While pretty much every derogatory thing you can say about these groups is true, it is also the case that the only effective long term response is to offer an alternative utopia. Leaders of mainstream parties need to be prepared to stand for something, and against something (like the banking industry) even when it is uncomfortable for them to do so.

As Harry Leslie Smith, a 90 year old veteran puts it "Is Cameron's Britain what we fought for in the war?" A country of miserly immigration laws, bankers bonuses, environmental degradation and 60 hour weeks.

This should be Ed Miliband's time to shine. Why doesn't he?

 

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Your Behavioural Economics reading list on Pinterest

Behavioural economics is probably marketing’s biggest hope of currying credibility within political circles as an objective scientific method as opposed to down and dirty propaganda. The UK Coalition Government even has it’s own nudge unit – which is winning over sections of the media.

Its rather wacky experiments are quite interesting too, giving it a huge popular appeal and making for interesting reading. A famous example is how Governments are drastically increasing organ donation through simple changes in the wording on consent forms. A good summary of other surprising examples has been produced by Forbes.

Like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in public healthcare, it’s a discipline that is popular because it doesn’t cost very much (not comparatively anyway) and produces measurable results.

Prime Decision, the Behavioual Economics consultancy has put together this comprehensive reading list on Pinterest to get you started.

Ken Loach is a few decades too late with his new old Labour Party

Film director Ken Loach is calling for a new left wing alternative to the British Labour Party. With the lack of any ideological challenge to the Government's dismantling of the welfare state, rapid privatisation of public services and wide reaching austerity programme, he may be right to do so. But a quick scan of the comments on his discussion board suggests he's the wrong messenger for the world we now live in. 

Some grumble about the clenched fists of soviet revolution that adorn the page. His branding is way off. Loach, nostalgic movie director that he is, is borrowing icons from other countries' long lost struggles, expecting them to be relevant to Britons in 2013. They are not. 

Others question his assumptions. He calls for a new political party, assuming political parties are the answer. After all, national parties don't pass muster against a global banking system. Look at what is happening in Italy with the surge in support for the anti-party online 5 Star Movement, there is a trend for e-government that must be grappled with.

Finally some complain that a new party would take votes from the Greens. The environment was overlooked by the old left but it can't be overlooked today.

While the majority of comments are supportive, the niggles and criticisms cut deep. We can no longer look to the old guard for answers. We need new responses to new challenges, not an old, gritty film script. 

Read the comments yourself at http://leftunity.org/appeal/ and let me know what you think by posting a comment.

Gun firms have teenage gamers in their sights

Stumbled across this quite shocking piece from the New York Times showing how gun manufacturers are deliberately marketing firearms to video gamers through big budget titles like Medal of Honor.

It undermines repeated claims by the video games industry that anecdotal reports linking high school and community shootings to perpetrators’ obsession with popular violent ‘shoot‘em ups’.

Most recently Adam Lanza, 20, the gunman behind the Sandy Hook Elementary School, shooting was reportedly obsessed with military game Call of Duty.

Clearly, the video games industry don't believe their own press releases.

Worryingly it also shows how violent fantasies, inspired by games are more widespread than is currently believed.

The 'doubt card', deployed by the industry, also links to the historic tactic of challenging the evidence. See my recent post on the book ‘Merchants of Doubt’ which discusses how the tobacco and energy industries have mastered this in order to delay and weaken anti-smoking and climate change legislation.

Century of Self: Adam Curtis' legendary documentary about marketing and advertising

If you only ever watch one documentary about Advertising let it be Adam Curtis' Century of Self:

 

 

Change4Life healthy eating campaign a flash in the pan compared to regulation

Advertisers think in terms of eyeballs. By this measure the UK National Health Service Change4Life campaign has been a huge success and it's no surprise that marketers are supportive of a comeback. After the first year the campaign boasted 99% hit rate of its target audience (mothers of children under age 11).

But what does this really mean? Has the campaign changed behaviour? Emphatically not! Of the millions who saw the campaign and recognised the brand only 33,000 were still using Change4Life resources (recipe guides etc) six months after signing up.

Not a number to be sniffed at I suppose. But it shows social marketing doesn't deliver on its promise to be an alternative to regulation. This is Nudge policy making in practice and, I'm afraid, failing miserably.

Compare 33,000 to the number you could potentially reach through a ban on transfats or additives in food aimed at children. That would reach 100% of the target group - no ad budget required - and the benefits would be guaranteed long term.

There's nothing wrong with Change4Life, but there's a lot wrong with what it represents. A lack of courage in the face of vested corporate interests.

 

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David Hockney is the latest darling of the tobacco industry

I'm reading Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Authors Oreskes and Conway describe clearly and in great detail the process by which big tobacco and the energy industry cultivate contrarian scientific voices to avoid responsibility for widespread social or environmental harm. 

This is not exactly a news flash but the book is enlightening in uncovering the extent of the media manipulation that has occured and still occurs. It demonstrates how former prominent scientists including Fred Seitz, Robert Jastrow and Bill Nierenberg were rent-a-quote for industry - even setting up phony think tanks to peddle doubt about the blindingly obvious; from the link between smoking and lung cancer, to the impact of burning fossil fuels on global temperatures.

It is quite startling that not only have the same tactics been used, but also that the same scientists were the perpetrators, always ready to defend the latest industrial villain; whether it be pesticides, acid rain, asbestos, nuclear missiles you name it - the same handful of retired physicists were there to defend the indefensible. 

While, particularly in the case of tobacco, industry has long since given up on denying the health impacts of smoking, they have pursued the same tactics concerning danger of second-hand smoke and in challenging the political shift towards bans on smoking in public places. 

Just after I'd finished the book I was came across this article by the artist, David Hockney, who expressed concern that the UK's smokers were being 'legislated out of existence'. Immediately suspicious, I googled 'David Hockney Tobacco Lobby' and it turns out he is a campaigner on behalf of Forest, an cigarrette lobby group. 

According to the Forest website, the organisation is "[mostly funded by] UK-based tobacco companies. A smaller sum comes from Friends of Forest (ordinary smokers and the occasional wealthy benefactor). In 2010 donations from individuals ranged from £10 to £2,000."

While not a scientist, the use of prominent public figures shows things haven't changed much. 

Highly recommended reading!

 

 

Cardinals made a marketing choice when they elected Bergoglio

Press speculation indicated cardinals would revert to type and select an Italian bureaucrat with an iron fist to grasp control of the Catholic Church as new Pope.

As it happened they continued the trend for expanding the reach of the papacy to, for wont of a better phrase, new markets; picking Bergoglio. The Argentinian is the first non European pope for 1,700 years. Interestingly his family roots go back to Piemonte making him immediately popular in the 'home market' too.

The strategy of internationalisation is the marketing of religion and is not unlike the marketing of other popular institutions, namely the Fifa World Cup and the Olympics.

There. I've just equated the church with the market and football. How many Hail Marys is that?

Grillo mania grips Italy... literally they're crazy

Screengrab: La Repubblica homepage, mid count, election night

In most countries a convicted felon and grandfather with an irrepressible appetite for sex parties could expect to command all the headlines were he to come so close, as Berlusconi has, to a majority at the parliamentary elections. 

And yet it's not Berlusconi who will be on Italy's front pages tomorrow morning, but Beppe Grillo. 

Grillo, the anti-political candidate has pulled off an altogether more shocking coup, as his 5-Star Movement (M5S) threatens to be the largest single party in the chamber of deputies (Italy's lower house). 

This is a guy who has conducted his campaign 100% online and through organised meet ups all over Italy. He will not have a majority, it seems, only because he refuses to enter into coalition with anyone. As I write this, his blog has crashed, no doubt because of the thousands of journalists waiting for an utterance from someone who refuses a spot on their programmes.

Politically his niche is the anti-corruption ticket. He shouts a lot. Nobody really knows what he stands for. That's quite scary since depending on who you ask he is either a fascist or an anarchist or simply a cuddly, eGovernment enthusiast and environmentalist. 

Like the Arab Spring, Grillo indicates that social media is a vehicle for protest but not reform. It handles likes and dislikes and aggregates people into formidable armies but struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of what Grillo calls his 'Tsunami tour'.

His fans or Grillinos (little Grillos) should be careful what they wish for. 

At the same time I keep thinking of Mario Monti, the establishment favourite who is trailing in fourth. I saw him on an Italian TV show a few nights ago. He was learning how to tweet. Bless.

A dying breed, for sure.

When good guys go bad

Elvis once complained 'it's hard to live up to an image'. In the last year organisations of all kinds have been let down by role models who couldn't sustain the personas manufactured for them by PR agents. Oscar Pistorius is only the latest example. Here are my pick of ten on pinterest.