DO SRI LANKAN UNDERSTAND BRAND NAMES in POLITICS?
DO SRI LANKAN UNDERSTAND BRAND NAMES in POLITICS?
When we see advertisements run on national television aimed at recruiting youth for the security forces there is so much genuineness associated with such efforts. Some of those advertisements have not only earned much praise and awards, they have helped recruit some of the best individuals for the job.
These are days when we also see advertising campaigns being run for the presidential candidates. Strangely though, we haven’t seen anything creative late; both on television and on walls along the street. Sri Lankans however have a tendency to fall for ‘cheap’ advertisements. These advertisements promote cheap products and during elections they have promote ‘cheap’ politicians. The word ‘cheap’ suggests that the individuals being promoted are hollow inside.
That’s the beauty of advertising. You can promote anything substandard fish buns to presidential candidates. The person who ended the curse of the shawl (Saatakaya) turned out to be a hero wearing clay shoes. This politician who went to become the president was promoted within no time and was made ready to sit on the hot seat.
Sri Lankans are learning pretty slowly how to brand people products and services. As much as J.R.Jaywardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa and S.W.R.D Bandaranaike were brand names in politics, so was Mahinda Deshapriya who served as the Election Commissioner. If not for Deshapriya, the 2015 presidential elections wouldn’t have been conducted smoothly. He said at a press conference held in a connection with the presidential elections in 2015 that the police had the permission to shoot troublemakers at polling booths right on the head. This is the best catchphrase associated with Deshapriya during his entire career as Election Commissioner. Deshapriya is a brand name associated with the institute called the ‘Election Commission’.
The logos of parties like the SLFP, UNP and even the JVP- which were brand names- have given way to newer more people friendly parties and alliances which have their own logos. The phottuwa (flower bud) symbol and lotus were later used as symbols with great political ambition fuelling such moves. The flower bud symbol is fighting not to fade away.
Politicians are masters at creating brands and logo for their survival. We need to usher in an era where the man on the street happily wearing a cheap unbranded shirt starts suddenly demanding that he wants ‘branded stuff’.
