We have all heard the adage, "There is no such thing as bad publicity” – but does this apply to publicity during an election campaign?
There have been 2 very well publicised clangers made this past week.
In one corner, the Liberal candidate for Ballarat, Mr Banwell, made comments which compared what he perceived as waste and mismanagement in the Labor Party’s school building program as a “potential holocaust”.
In the other corner, the Labor Party’s candidate for Flinders, Mr Schonfelder has suggested that Tony Abbott’s religious views were, “influencing people to take their own lives”.
What interests me about both of these comments is not actually the comments themselves, that’s a whole other debate, but the way the media grabbed hold of them, the way the Party’s reacted and whether or not they were really, “slips of the tongue” or carefully planned strategies.
Both candidates have since apologised for their momentary lapses of brain function.
When Mr Banwell made his comments, the ALP immediately reacted with calls for his sacking but members of the Liberal Party suggested that his apology should suffice. However, the Liberal Party was outraged when the PM wouldn’t sack Mr Schonfelder for his comments, but she too believed his apology was enough. You see where I am going here…
Had you ever heard of either candidate before this? Both gentlemen are running in seats that they have very little chance of winning. (And since writing this Mr Schonfelder has since stepped down after a car accident.)
These comments are purely for shock factor – using words that cause immediate, emotional responses and they are cleverly designed that way. And we fall for them every time. They take our focus away from policies and promises and onto individuals. Within moments of the “suicide” comments being published in the media, there were responses from spokespeople for Lifeline, beyond blue and even psychologists telling us all about mental illness and the seriousness of suicide in this country – and don’t get me wrong, all very important messages, but none of them I read related to anything about religion and suicide, abortion and suicide or sex before marriage and suicide, which was what Mr Schonfelder was commenting on. They also had nothing to do with either Party’s policies on mental health.
Just as importantly, has any of the comments really hurt either party since they were made by candidates that are unlikely to win their seats? On polling day, do people remember these comments or are they more concerned about the economy and global warming?