Everyone is talking about the MP expense scandal.
Claim: The prime minister paid his brother, £6,577 for arranging cleaning services for his Westminster flat for 26 months.
Spin: The two shared a cleaner who worked in both their flats. His brother paid her and was reimbursed for his share of the cost. He did not do the cleaning himself or gain financially.
Claim: Jack Straw over-claimed £1,500 on council tax on his second home. He made a claim for the full bill despite getting a 50% discount from the local authority for the property.
Spin: Mr Straw acted within the rules. He spotted the mistaken council tax claim himself and repaid the money himself.
Claim: Keith Vaz, claimed more than £75,000 to fund a second home in Westminster, despite his family home being just 12 miles away in Stanmore.
Spin: Mr Vaz: “It’s on junction 4 of the M1 and I keep the Westminster flat for early morning meetings as do many MPs who live in that block”
Such claims are just another example of spin from ‘Soul Traders’. In my book, which examines the history of propaganda and hype, I list twenty-eight classic techniques that flatter, cajole, create paranoia, generate distrust, affirm half-truths, and provoke the public to believing what is needed in order to build trust.
Here are just seven – recognise them?
The Seven Deadly Spins
1 Ad hominem
Smear your advisory’s character rather than addressing their argument. This is probably one of the most common tactics used in politics.
Cameron smears PM for getting the tax-payer to finance his home improvements whilst Cameron back-peddles on his own Shadow-Cabinet’s expenses.
2 A- B choice
Offer two choices with your cause or a brand being positioned as the better of the two. “You are either for us or against us.” You’re either a ‘brand-x’ user or a nobody.”
From the invasion of Iraq to the rights of Ghurkhas and admirers of Marmite – There is no middle ground.
3 Repetition
Repeat your message time after time via a controlled use of the media.
For example using a political motto or advertising jingle. Watch the advert enough times and even if it is annoying, it still gets under your hitherto ‘resilient’ consumer skin. Or the current Swine Flu campaign ” Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.”
4 Highlight self-interests
Incorporate emotive terms highlighting ethical fairness… Or point to the selfishness of second party’s interests over that of the greater good.
For example, “any honest person wouldn’t dream of downloading illegal movies off the web.” Or, The Co-Op Bank –“good with money”. Or L’Oreal ” Because I’m worth it.”
5 Expert blessing
Secure and exploit the voluntary or sponsored endorsement of a respected expert, politician or celebrity. ‘If it is good enough for the experts who independently understand the implications of the cause, it must be good enough for everyone’.
For example, using David Beckham or Lewis Hamilton endorsing brands.
6 Be one of the in-crowd
Make people believe their loyalty proves that they are trendsetters rather than followers.
In marketing, this works well with brands appealing to youth such as Reebox sneakers or Apple iPods. Another classic example is an advert published by Burger King against McDonalds reading: “Would you rather feast like a king or eat like a clown?”
7 Big Lie
Despite any contrary hearsay from groups (strategically positioned as ‘subversive’), continually repeat your version of a set of events until the audience begins to believe your account. Continue to do so, even if on close examination your story can’t be fully substantiated. The only steadfast rule to follow is that your story must contain a grain of truth that’s just credible enough to make your account plausible.
For example: Iraq could deploy biological weapons within 45 minutes – need I say more?
And just one more … Red Herring:
Monday 11th May 2009 “I want my party to be the party of change and reform:, David Cameron – who claims the mortgage interest on his home.
Distract an audience and the rest is easy. Spin-doctors are well aware of the technique. Similar to the Red Herring technique is “Card Stacking.” Audience perception of an issue is manipulated by emphasizing one thing whilst ignoring another, such as Cameron’s statement: “The system we had and used was wrong…
A complete list of classic spin techniques are detailed in Soul Traders a hard-hitting analysis of the impact of propaganda and spin on popular culture – from the way Hezbolah uses the web as a recruitment tool, to branding ploys, recession double-speak and the rise of a celebrity hegemony.
Check out www.soultraderstruth.com
Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 10:09 amand is filed under Politics, Spin doctors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
