Of Tea Parties and Muddled Messaging
April 16, 2009 – 7:56 am
The April 15 Tax Day tea parties were a great example of grass roots, viral organization to move thousands of people (whether you believe the reported attendance or not) to do something.
But here’s the problem; what were they doing? In PR, we counsel clients to have consistent messages that leave no doubt who you are and what you stand for. Were the tea parties:
- Libertarian tax protests?
- Conservative protests against Obama?
- A stand against pork-barrel spending and government waste?
- An anti-gay marriage event?
- FOX News sponsored GOP pom-pom waving?
Depending on what you believed, the event was either a success or was muddled by a lack of central messaging.
If you fail to define yourself- or worse, define yourself badly- then others will gladly fill the void.
Were the tea parties a success? Can anyone tell?
Mobile post sent by DougH using Utterli. Replies. mp3
10 Responses to “Of Tea Parties and Muddled Messaging”
this is a great point. Well put.
This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
By Nathan Rein on Apr 16, 2009
While I agree the message was muddled, I think it’s a mistake to begin evaluating public protests the same way we evaluate advertising, PR, webinars, and presentations. There is value in coming together in public to express an opinion, not the least of which is that it shows we still live in a free society where such things are possible (as long as you have a permit, of course!)
By Dennis McDonald on Apr 16, 2009
Dennis, I don;t disagree with you, but I still think this could have been more effective- and taken even more seriously than it was- with better communication.
By Doug Haslam on Apr 16, 2009
Thanks Nathan– I did want this to be seen in terms of my profession (PR/Communications) rather than strict politics-though the confused politics are inseparable from my point.
This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
By Doug Haslam on Apr 16, 2009
Twitter Comment
RT @DougH Overt to the blog: Of Tea Parties and Muddled Messaging: [link to post] #teaparty
– Posted using Chat Catcher
By BrianPCombs (Brian Combs) on Apr 16, 2009
I walked through the Boston Common yesterday to investigate the Tea Party. I had absolutely no idea what was the cause, political affiliation and direction. It was a pretty chaotic unorganized mess. So confusing. Glad I was dead on :).
By Stuart Foster on Apr 16, 2009
makes sense to me. what I get from the post is that the lack of a clearly-articulated central focus actually has strong negative effects on the message — i.e. they end up looking like a bunch of nuts because the most extreme voices tend to steal the show.
This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
By Nathan Rein on Apr 16, 2009
Yes, and they let them– unless the extremem voices were supposed to be the show–again, it’s just not clear. Also, I can’t belive I forgot to include the "teabagging" embarrassment- oh well, just salacious ansd slightly beside the point i guess
This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
By Doug Haslam on Apr 17, 2009
I do not know much about tea.
By ghdhair on Feb 27, 2010
As for me ,I like to drink tea.
By spacejams on Feb 27, 2010