We’re not getting the whole story
Three, two, one—cheese!
That is the sound of a politician getting their picture taken. More specifically, it is the sound of a politician creating a brand. No wonder it always feels like they are trying to sell us stuff. That feeling is because they have joined the rest of the world in the use of social media—and media in general—to create a public image for themselves. This is to give us, the “common” people, a sense of who these politicians are before we even hear anything about their campaigns or promises for the future.
Premier Kathleen Wynne was in Guelph on March 8 and was visiting local businesses to talk about Ontario’s Fair Hydro Plan, but, according to a GuelphToday news brief, “there [would] be no media availability during the visit, just photo opportunities.”Considering Wynne’s main goal on this visit was to inform businesses, it seems a little strange that she was not willing, or not able, to also inform the media about the hydro plan. Maybe she just didn’t have enough time to answer questions all day or maybe she just didn’t want to.
Furthermore, if Wynne wasn’t going to answer media questions, what was the point of having them take photos? The headline of those pictures would have to be very vague, like, “Here is Kathleen Wynne talking about something… maybe next time she’ll tell us too.”
I know that seems funny, but the truth behind this is that just having a photo-op leaves what she was saying or doing up to anyone’s interpretation. Without the content of Wynne’s visit, the community will remain fairly uninformed about what her goal for this trip even was. The only information or trace of her visit will be some simple and unexplainable photographs that give us the impression of a hard-working person who must have been doing something great—maybe she’ll even Instagram it.
Wynne is among countless other politicians who are trying to convince us to buy their brand as if they were a new sports car—or in Wynne’s case, an old Honda Civic. However, it is a little difficult to fully invest in someone if the only information we have on them is what they post on social media.
How many people follow former U.S. president Barack Obama, President Donald Trump, or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Twitter? Millions. This demonstrates that communication between the public and politicians—who make all of the country’s big decisions—has become increasingly easy.
The problem is that the public is only getting snippets of real information, but taking it as full and real content. There is a tremendous difference between thinking you know a politician’s stance on an issue—based on a brief photo-op—and actually looking deeper into that politician’s stance on serious issues.Furthermore, it does not give us any real information on the laws that politicians are trying to get passed or their party’s mission statements and end goals overall.
As a society, we are reading too deeply into the brand and not enough into what the actual product—or politician—is capable of doing. As easy as it is to get swept up in the glamour of a picture or in the hilarity of a tweet, this cannot be all we look at as a society, and the process of questioning and demanding answers has to be our primary source of information.
If we’re to keep our politicians in check, we must look beyond the brand they create to manipulate us and keep them accountable for real issues.
Photo by Mido Melebari.