Picking The Right Spokesman

Renown actor and director Clint Eastwood was the big mystery guest at the Republic Convention last week . As PSYOPers we know that we need to select our messages and our desired results before we engage spokes people and energize the campaign. If you didn’t see the speech, then check it out on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoqKdWY692k which is also the photo source. This is the official version published by gopconvention2012.

The 11 minute performance was perceived in predicable ways. Republicans and Conservatives thought it was great while Democrats and Liberals felt it was neither well done,  nor effective. Spokes people are often wild cards – Eastwood is above all a performer, and likely a performer with his own agenda – an agenda which apparently was close to, but not exactly a total match for with the Republican one.

To be fair Eastwood made a few good jabs and it was nice to see a more conservative actor on the political stage for a change. His conversation with an imaginary Obama had its up and downs. He made the point that attorneys shouldn’t be president – an easy target, no one favors attorneys. He also hit the key points of jobs and his feeling that President Obama hasn’t lived up to his own campaign promises.

Probably Mr. Eastwood was a warm up act – an act designed to energize the faithful and set the stage for the Nominee. He was credible to the target audience and he certainly has the communications skills needed to get his point across. 

The results were indeed mixed.

The bottom line is that you roll the dice every time at spokes person gets up and speaks or is quoted. Pandering safe lines to a safe and captive audience is always a safe bet. If Mr. Eastwood’s purpose was to fire up the troops- he succeeded. If his objective was to leverage off his star power to change minds and votes then he was a likely a flop.

After all, not every spokes person can make your day.