For the last few administrations, it’s been tres au courant for Presidents to declare themselves, “The __________ President.” For instance, President Bush had intended to be the “Education President.” Unfortunately for all of us, 9/11 happened and by necessity, he became the “War on Terror President.” That happens a lot. You don’t get to pick what you’ll be remembered for. I forget now what Bill Clinton wanted to be known as, but for evermore, he will be known as the “Intern Chaser President” or the “Sexual Predator President.” Ouch. I’m not a psychic (nor do I play one on TV), but I think I know how Obama will go down in history. I think he will become the “Marketing President., ”

If Ronald Reagan was the “Great Communicator” (and he was), I feel certain that Obama will go down in history as the “Great Persuader,” for it looks as if he will be the first President (and his, the first administration) to use marketing as a weapon, to get what they want.

If this doesn’t scare the Hell out of you, it should.

As a marketer, I realize the awesome power of persuasion, and the responsibility we have as marketers to do the right things for the right reasons. In retail marketing, the market itself has a tendency to correct any excesses. Go overboard with product claims, and you’ll see the public vote with their wallets — and you’ll be out of a job. Get caught lying, and your product will be shuffled off to the marketing equivalent of Siberia. But in political marketing, it’s pretty much an “all spin, all the time” kind of pursuit. I mean, what’s the difference in a “lie” and a “campaign promise?” Lies aren’t forgotten. Campaign promises are. So what happens if Obama and his posse continue to treat this as one big campaign? I’m afraid we’re in big trouble. I figured that, once Obama is sworn in, he’d have to produce actual results, as opposed to more smoke and mirrors. If they keep marketing to us, that may not be the case.

It will be interesting to see just how long this keeps up — and for how long it continues to work. But I’m afraid that, no matter how long it does, marketing will never be the same…and even worse, marketing will take the fall, when people realize that much of what they’ve been told is no more substantial than the smoke and mirrors of a Presidential campaign.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 12:17 am and is filed under marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.