Is #kerryout the Future of Campaigning?
Today marked the launch of the #kerryout campaign. New Labour’s poster girl for New Media, Kerry McCarthy, is being fought in an increasingly heated battle by her own weapon of choice: Twitter.com.
However, there have been cries of foul play. Naturally the Left have counter-attacked and there have been accusations of “bullying” and “playground tactics”. It’s not bullying at all, in fact, but it is negative campaigning. Why, for instance, is the campaign #kerryout rather than #shafiin (Adeela Shafi is McCarthy’s Conservative opponent in Bristol East). It essentially boils down to the fact that McCarthy was the first to stick her head above the new media parapet where the more experienced and well-funded snipers are the opposition.
Regardless of the content, as a style of campaign there can be no doubt about its effectiveness. For the effort and expense required (a website and a video of clips mashed together with some music) coupled with a pre-existing party fundraising mechanism (myconservatives.com) the campaign has been documented by all aspects of the blogosphere. Pithy video-clips can be made without much expertise in the space of an afternoon and there is potential that they can go viral and get airtime on television.
Ultimately the true test of this battle will be whether Kerry is, indeed, ousted at the next General Election. If she is not it will be due to the public adverse reaction to a negative campaign rather than to the methods and mediums used. Make no mistake, although it is a shame that the first example of this type of campaigning is a negative one, we are seeing the future of campaigning.
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January 4th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
“Is #kerryout the Future of Campaigning?”
No. It is nasty and vindictive, will only excite the blogosphere and, where it is noticed, will merely alienate the general public. Anti-candidate websites are nothing new; there were dozens of them in the last election. The overreaction from Labour supporters has been extraordinary however.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
It’s not overtly nasty as anti-candidate websites go. There’s not much substance considering the hype. However, it’s not the content that I was referring too, more the way they’ve created the buzz and used twitter as a tool. Also, it doesn’t take away from the fact that myconservatives.com is a very good way of taking peoples money off them.
What the LibDems should be doing is the same but more slick and obviously positive on behalf of LibDem candidates.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Similar in style to certain US Internet supported congressional campaigns, and likely to increase. However, due to the centralised nature of British political parties and campaigns, it’s unlikely to catch on to quite the same degree here.
I think the campaign’s light-hearted on the part of some, but also vindictive as well. In any case, this campaign’s ‘off target’ as far as the Tories are concerned, as it seems that there are more urgent marginal targets in Bristol, to focus on at the moment.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Ian Dale and Tory Bear have been attacking Kerry via twitter for yonks.
Then she stopped responding. Then blocked them both. So they created a campaign against her.
I’d actually suggest that she’s just being attacked to try and draw her into a twitter slangning match.
They realise she’s an important part of the Labour election campaign, and probably want to draw her into this campaign to neutralise her a bit.
A tory will never ever win in bristol east. They aren’t even the 2nd biggest party in bristol.