Ian Burrell: Are the Tories trying to sell a party – or just a leader?

Monday 04 January 2010 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

In the history of Tory advertising campaigns, yesterday's homage to David Cameron hardly ranks alongside such slogans as 1979's election-winning "Labour Isn't Working" or even 1992's "Tax Bombshell".

Those two memorable lines were the work of the Saatchi brothers, Maurice and Charles, with whom the Conservatives ended a 30-year relationship in 2006. The new work, featuring a giant image of the Tory leader, photographed in an open-necked shirt, doesn't carry the Conservative party logo. Cameron himself is, effectively, the logo.

The advertising agency which produced the posters, Euro RSCG, part of the French media empire Havas, was last night under instructions not to discuss the strategy behind the work.

But senior advertising industry figures suggested that the impetus for the campaign had come primarily from Conservative Central Office, rather than the agency. Dave Trott, founder of CST, said the ads would have little impact with undecided voters. "These posters are supposed to be revolutionary because Cameron isn't wearing a tie and because there's no logo. Do you really think that's going to make a blind bit of difference and shift a single voter? This has come from Central Office, you can't blame the agency. It's from people who think they know about branding and advertising."

To be fair to the Tory strategist Steve Hilton, he has a background in advertising, working with Saatchi & Saatchi, and then at the brothers' breakaway agency M&C Saatchi. The Tory account was moved to Euro RSCG largely on the strength of a poster for The Sun newspaper, which ended up as a front page. It showed Gordon Brown as Winston Churchill, sticking two fingers up at a European referendum, alongside the slogan: "Never have so few decided so much for so many."

The message of yesterday's campaign involved trying to combine fears of Labour overspending with reassurance about Tory cuts: "We can't go on like this. I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS."

Commentators were unimpressed by the use of the first person, echoing the cult of personality associated with Tony Blair. The poster reminded Channel 4 News political editor Gary Gibbon of the imagery of the Politburo. And the work may not even succeed in Tory heartlands: Philip Johnston, leader writer for The Daily Telegraph, said Tory managers seemed to have "decided that Cameron is bigger than the party".

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in