Joke lang? O katauhan?

by Vincent R. Pozon

A candidate is very like a consumer brand—except, unlike a jar of pickles, the candidate can speak, and sometimes shoots himself in the foot.

The shaping of a brand image, say of a pickle jar, rests entirely in the hands of the marketer. The product does not get up, dance on the shelf, sing off-key, or insult single mothers. Its silence is a discipline. Its silence respects how it is labelled, designed, packaged and offered to the consumer.

Good candidates are armed with crafted statements, rehearsed stances, and escape lines for questions too volatile to answer on the fly. There are subjects that demand time, thought, and care—issues that should not be reduced to soundbites or flung into the chaos of an ambush interview.

We have seen candidates already considered viable lose points by bungling, by jest, by being too plain in their language.

(Some recoil at the comparison, insisting it is unfair to liken public servants to consumer goods. But campaigning is marketing. The candidate, like any product, is promoted and placed. The candidate can speak—and every word, every offhand remark, has the power to unravel his or her brand. Whether onstage, in interviews, or across billboards, discipline is not optional. It is the campaign.)

Now when a candidate says that single mothers “longing for company” can sign up — apply to share his bed, that is not banter or bungling. That is an unfiltered impulse. The thought grew inside him, shaped itself in his mind, provided words and posture. It wasn’t a joke gone awry. It was a reflection of his soul.

In his apology, he said he “chose the wrong joke”—as if the problem were merely one of timing or audience. "He has been using the same sexual joke since last year", he admits in an interview on The Billionaryo News Channel. But what does it say about a man who carries such a joke inside him?

When another candidate remarked that nurses should be female and fair so as not to worsen a patient’s condition, the fallback claim—"just a joke"—doesn't redeem him. We saw not levity, but misogyny. We saw a heart unguarded, and it revealed prejudice. I suppose it’s true what the book says: “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

In marketing, this is not a minor slip. It is brand damage. Because whether onstage or on a billboard, the message is the man—and discipline is everything.

In the world of politics, a candidate’s words – what crawls out of his mouth – are his truest measure. What he says exposes the depth of his character—and reveals the core he cannot hide.

Perhaps it is just as well that they stood onstage as they are – feelings and faults naked.

Just a joke? Character is the punchline.

Vincent R. Pozon

After a year of college, Koyang entered advertising, and there he stayed for half a century, in various agencies, multinational and local. He is known for aberrant strategic successes (e.g., Clusivol’s ‘Bawal Magkasakit’, Promil’s ‘The Gifted Child’, RiteMED’s ‘May RiteMED ba nito?', VP Binay's 'Ganito Kami sa Makati', JV Ejercito's 'The Good One'). He is chairman of Estima, an ad agency dedicated to helping local industrialists, causes and candidates. He is co-founder and counselor for advertising, public relations, and crisis management of Caucus, Inc., a multi-discipline consultancy firm. He can be reached through vpozon@me.com.