Page 133 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 112

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
Selling a philosophy, because it is intangible, is much more complex
than selling a product. All we are endorsing about advertising is the
narrow, highly methodological technique. We are not endorsing the
style, the form, or any particular way of advertising a product. We’re
trying to extract benefits from the scientific technique of marketing
and apply it to a different world.
(Ibid.)

In October 1985 the new leader, Neil Kinnock, appointed a current affairs
television producer, Peter Mandelson, to the post of Campaign and
Communications Director which he had just created. Mandelson in turn
appointed advertising executive Philip Gould to undertake a review of
Labour’s campaign techniques. In 1990 Peter Mandelson himself became a
Labour parliamentary candidate, and his post was taken over by John
Underwood, a former television journalist and producer. Underwood’s
tenure was very short, due to conflicts of approach, and he resigned in June
1991 to be replaced by Dave Hill, who co-ordinated campaign planning for
the 1992 election.
The theme of the 1992 campaign was ‘It’s Time for Labour’ and again, as
in 1987, the advertisements elaborating on the theme were well-produced and
widely-praised. One broadcast backfired, however, producing what Butler
and Kavanagh call ‘the only real confrontation of the campaign . . . the war
of Jennifer’s Ear’ (1992, p. 122). ‘Jennifer’s Ear’ was the subject of Labour’s
PEB on health. It presented, in glossy and emotional terms, the sad tale of a
young girl unable to get treatment for a painful ear condition because of long
National Health Service waiting lists. Although the characters were
portrayed by actors, the film was based on a ‘true’ story, passed on to the
party by an angry parent, who also happened to be a Labour supporter.
Unfortunately, ‘Jennifer’s’ other parent, her mother, was a Conservative
supporter, as was ‘Jennifer’s’ grandfather. Hearing of the use to be made of
‘Jennifer’s’ condition, they contacted the Conservative Party. Thus began a
‘war’, conducted amidst huge media attention, between rival claims as to the
truth of ‘Jennifer’s’ ear: was it the cynical manipulation of a child’s illness by
unscrupulous (Labour) politicians, presented without context and under-
standing of the real situation, or was it a legitimate exposure of Tory health
policy in action?
As the ‘war’ progressed, giving the media their most extensively covered
story of the campaign, it moved away from the debate on health to one of
ethics, in which both parties’ campaign teams were implicated. The adver-
tisement became a story in itself, over which the parties had little control.
Labour’s ‘A Time for Change’ message was premature in 1992; the Con-
servatives won a fourth consecutive general election, though with a much
reduced majority. Although Labour’s communication apparatus was much
more professional and ‘scientific’ than ever before, the political environment

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