Pledging allegiance to authenticity in promotional campaigning

I’m gonna wade into politics if I may, American politics, as we witness a landmark that hasn’t happened in a-couple-a-hundred years.

I mean, we can’t miss politics right now. Here in the UK we witness our own landmarks. We’ve seen a new Labour government after 14 years of Conservative rule. Now the Tories regroup around their first and the country’s first ever Black woman leader of a major political party. We’ll be seeing her soon, jousting across the parliamentary chamber on a weekly basis with the PM.

I want to wade into some parts of the campaigning that we saw in the USA. The one thing I hope politicians and any other type of campaign learns is that you don’t need to roll out all those ‘shelebs’ to provide fuel for your promotions - and my thoughts extend to us ‘small folk’ as we may be thinking about ‘named’ endorsements for our products and place them in our online messaging.

We saw a lot of ‘shelebrities’ on stage in the USA campaigns shilling their wares for their political ‘friends’, urging the electorate to place votes with one party or another.

My initial thoughts went to the fact that many ‘sheelebs’ didn’t finish, or attain much in their formal education (and there’s nothing wrong in that per se), yet as they amassed material wealth, they neglected to return to real wealth, that of knowledge, education and intelligence. As they floss and flex their high-profile lifestyles and provide material aspirations that many of us won’t reach, they didn’t return to what I consider to be real power; knowledge-based wealth, which would enable ‘shelebbs’ to contribute to real-world, life-affecting problems that we face as a species.

How can such people be trustworthy to advise ‘the little people’ about policies, ergo how to vote? How can they be speaking on things, which they can easily, materially circumnavigate should circumstances become hard – as hardship already visits many of us? I guess politicians think that we, ‘the great unwashed’ are easily pleased.

Our weariness of ‘chelebrities’ and the surrounding culture began before, but was exacerbated by lockdown. I don’t need to remind you of some of the most cringy and embarrassing social media posts that so many of them made, which reinforced the disconnect between us.

And, there is data coming out, which shows our disinterest in ‘shlebs’ and the culture that comes with it. Data showing us that using them as endorsements for your products often don’t yield the results you’re looking for, in fact such action could tarnish your brand if you’re not careful.

I’m reminded that if you’re really trying to connect with people - I guess in any medium, connect through your own, lived stories and experiences. Create your messages from a place of authenticity and honesty - no one can do that but you. You are your own uniqueness and not one ‘shelelbrity’ can successfully retell your own story or endorse that.

Right now as I write, we're on track to see history about to be made in the USA. Hold on to your under garments folks. Globally, the next few years are gonna be one hell of a ride.

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