By Ted Leonhardt
Four died on the day the mob stormed our U.S. Capitol. Slogans were central to defining, encouraging and leading the charge. As Nike tells us: Just do it.
Marketing messages used to sell chicken, cars and running shoes; now they’re used to overthrow governments.
Make America Great Again.
Finger-lickin’ good.
Lock her up.
Think different.
Save America.
A diamond is forever.
We will never concede.
Share a Coke.
It’s fake news.
Because you’re worth it
They rigged the election.
America Runs on Dunkin’.
Stop the steal.
See what we mean.
We won by a landslide.
American by birth, rebel by choice.
Stand down and stand by.
A shining city upon a hill.
We will not let them silence your voices.
Think small.
Fight for Trump.
It’s the real thing.
Mike will do the right thing.
God bless America.
Go—take back our country.
We’re addicted to slogans. We expect advertisers and politicians to lie. We believe them anyway.
I always wanted “the ultimate driving machine” sitting there gleaming in my garage, as I thought different with my Mac and walked with Johnnie Walker.
I never thought Trump would make America great again. I thought he was disgusting long before I noted his MAGA slogan. Maybe his hair was the tipoff. I felt the past was the past and not really that great anyway. But I did know his behavior, and his slogan touched the hearts of millions who felt left out and screwed over by the widening financial divide of the last half-century.
I figured the Trump followers felt just like I did in “feeling the Bern” and personally agreeing with Bernie Sanders’ challenge to the status quo.
I felt left out, too, even though I’m one of the lucky ones.
With Bernie’s help, I saw for the first time that the control the super-rich have over our lives is out of control. It was Bernie who made it okay for me to study socialism and the work of Marx and Engels. It was Bernie who helped me think about the unfairness that’s built into our economy.
I was long past being afraid of being accused of being a Communist, anyway. That was something to be afraid of back when I was growing up.
Now we see that the economy is more important than people’s lives. And the simple logic— that the purpose of the economy is to provide goods and services so we can live our lives, raise our children and work—no longer seems to be the case.
When the Clinton campaign said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” it didn’t occur to me that making money was the only real reason to be alive.
But now we’re hearing that that’s the case. As I write this—hoping I’m thinking differently enough—the daily U.S. COVID death count has surpassed 4,000.
Propaganda basics: If you shout it long enough and loud enough, eventually people will begin to believe it. It worked for diamonds. And it sure worked for Trump.
We just witnessed treason and insurrection. Four people dead, all driven by Trump’s slogans and messaging. More to come, I expect.
“Pro-Trump Mob Storms U.S. Capitol,” headlines The Seattle Times.
“Insurrection,” screams the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Social platforms flex their power, lock down Trump accounts,” notes AP.
“Twitter and Facebook Lock Trump’s Accounts After Violence on Capitol Hill,” seconds The New York Times.
“Trump’s rage ignites mob assault on democracy,” says the AP.
But we don’t really have a democracy anyway, with an electoral-college system able to second-guess voters, rampant gerrymandering and thousands barred from voting rolls because they’re Black, Brown or poor.
It’s not the police who protect us from crime anymore. It’s not elected leadership that helps steer a course toward a better future for all.
“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” bellows Trump as he urges his audience to begin the march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.
I agree that we’ll have to “fight like hell” to save our country. But the slogans, the yellow journalism and the messaging scare me. The media dominance of Facebook, Twitter and Google, with their ability to send millions of targeted messages encouraging hate and destruction in whatever flavor floats your boat, scares me.
“Just do it,” “The ultimate driving machine” and “Make America Great Again” have taken on a power to manipulate that is beyond my imagining.
We creatives have an obligation to rethink how we use our power to persuade, as we move forward in a world remade with interconnected digital technology that both connects and divides us at the same time. And we shouldn’t need a slogan to tell us that.
Note from Ted: Jessica Knapp and I have twelve signups for our workshop, Negotiation for Creatives in the Age of Covid this week. We’re considering doing a second workshop in February. If you’re interested sign up for my mailing list at https://tedleonhardt.com. The signup form is at the bottom of my home page. Or just send me a note at ted@tedleonhardt.com