In the 2020 elections, Democrats won the presidency but lost seats in The House. Were you surprised? I wasn’t.
I will do my best to keep this apolitical.
In an election that was widely seen as a success for Democrats (because, well, their guy won the presidency) they managed to flip five states won by Donald Trump in 2016: Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.
They also lost 15 House seats to Republicans – giving them the slimmest majority in decades.
How could they make gains on a national level but have such huge losses on the local level?
Many point to the fact that some of the seats flipped by Democrats in the 2018 mid-terms flipped in the opposite direction because Trump was on the ticket and drew more voters. Others say the Democratic Party’s “liberal message” may have hit a sour note with voters who were more moderate or on the fence.
I would argue one of the most egregious culprits was the mis-branding of the “Defund The Police” movement.
Why Branding Matters
Branding permeates our lives on a daily basis. Nike, Coke, Google, Facebook, Disney. Companies are constantly vying for our attention and trying to “define their brand” in a way that helps their business thrive.
At it’s core, branding is a simplification – a condensation of what your company or product does to make it easily marketable and memorable. In an age where we are constantly bombarded by stimulus, proper branding is more important than ever if you want to get noticed or stand out. Great branding drives sales, while bad branding does not. At its worst, bad branding can even cause damage.
What Is “Good Branding?”
It’s all about effective communication. There are tons of websites and newsletters dedicated to the concept. The basic elements of any successful marketing strategy involve:
- Providing a clear and consistent identity/image (a slogan or logo can help with this)
- Determine your target audience
- Find your target audience’s “pain point” – the problem they need solved
- Deliver a value proposition that promises a solution (i.e. “I can help fix your problem.”)
- Differentiation (why your company/product is better than the competition)
Great marketing incorporates all these elements. In this area, “Defund the police” fails across the board.
- Messaging: Not clear. Ask ten people what “defund the police” means and you will get ten different answers.
- Target audience: While more liberal voters are an easier sell, if your goal is to persuade moderate or conservative voters to support your cause, anything that smacks of “getting rid of the police” is a complete misfire.
- Pain Point: I would argue the pain point in this case is that “people do not feel safe,” albeit for different reasons. People of color don’t feel safe from the police, because, well, history. And conservative voters don’t feel safe because they have constantly been told “the bad guys are coming for you” by fear-mongering politicians and news sites.
- Promise/value proposition: For people who believe the police are the problem, getting rid of them might seem like a great solution. But for Americans who feel threatened by other named or un-named enemies, getting rid of the police is the opposite of what they want.
- Differentiation: Again, for more liberal voters, “defunding the police” might imply an acceptable solution to the problems of excessive force and racial profiling. But for conservative voters, it might be difficult to convince them there are no better options.
Problem: The Slogan Is Vague and Open to Misinterpretation
Let’s be honest – what did you first think when you heard the words “defund the police?” I know what I thought – “They want to get rid of the police? All of them? I know there are a lot of issues, but is that the solution?”
And I’m a left-leaning liberal!
I can only imagine the vision of anarchy and chaos it brings to the mind of a more conservative voter. “Get rid of the police? They’re the only thing standing between my family and the hoards of rapists and robbers I’ve been told are knocking at my door. Even if the police aren’t perfect, why would I choose lawlessness instead?”
And it doesn’t matter if that description of the movement is not accurate.
I know when you dive deeper into the movement, you discover that “defund the police” isn’t about getting rid of the police entirely (at least for most people it’s not,) but rather taking some of the money spent on policing and redirecting it towards conflict resolution and racial sensitivity training, as well as social services so police don’t have to act as social workers or psychologists, jobs they are not well-trained for.
In fact, it can be argued that defunding the police in this way would make it easier for the police to do their jobs – by giving them better training and fewer distractions, thus making our lives safer. Who doesn’t want that?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if that’s the gist of what the movement is saying. You can’t expect your target audience to dive deeper and do research – especially if their knee-jerk reaction to your branding is a negative one. Your slogan needs to be clear, concise and compelling or you will lose them immediately. Studies show that people decide whether or not to pay attention to something in 3-5 seconds. You don’t get a second chance to tell them “what you really meant.”
It’s All About Emotions
Any marketing guru will tell you that the worst copy is just a description of the service or product, while the best copy elicits some kind of emotion. If you want someone to open your email, click on your link or buy your product, you need to make them feel something. Either an association with a pleasant memory, or empathy, or better yet, hope that you have a solution to their problem.
For a large segment of the population, defund the police does the opposite of that.
It implies, accurately or not, that you want to get rid of the police entirely – which for these already scared people is even more terrifying. Add to that a bunch of fear-mongering politicians, and it leaves the door wide open to hyperbole and misrepresentation – a weakness the Republican party took full advantage of during the 2020 election.
One example, according to NPR, is Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., whose district was blanketed with ads of retired New York City police officers talking about how Rose betrayed them. “He promised us he was going to support the police and then he marches with people looking to defund them.” Max Rose lost that election.
Alienating moderate or conservative voters should be the exact opposite of what anyone who supports “defunding the police” wants. After all, you can’t change policy if you don’t win elections. Yet this slogan made it easy for Republican politicians to deliver the message that “The Democrats want to get rid of the police and leave you to the mercy of the criminals.” Who wouldn’t vote against that?
So What’s To Be Done?
Since the problem with “Defund the police’ is mainly a branding issue, I would suggest some radical “rebranding” is in order. Major companies do it all the time when they are in trouble.
In 1997, Apple Computers was veering dangerously close to bankruptcy. It dropped “computers” from its name, came up with a more modern, streamlined logo, and focused on selling a unique customer experience. It seems to have worked for them.
While I’m convinced rebranding is called for, what that rebranding should be is a more difficult question. It’s a complicated movement with a lot of disparate elements. But we can come up with something better, can’t we? Because I would argue that it’s too important an issue to be negated by sloppy marketing. Maybe something along the line of “Help Cops be Cops” or “Fix the Force.” Even “Reform The Police So They Can Be Better at Their Jobs And Make Everyone Safer.” Granted, that’s a harder slogan to chant at a rally, but anything is better than implying “Let’s get rid of the police and see what happens.”
Looking Forward
The 2022 elections will most likely be rough on the Democrats. According to Forbes Magazine, midterm elections historically go poorly for the president’s party. It happened to Donald Trump, it happened to Obama – it will most likely happen to Biden. Democrats don’t need any more strikes against them.
If they hope to outperform during that election and hold onto their slim majority in Congress so they can accomplish anything during the second half of Joe Biden’s presidency, they better make sure their message is clear and accurate. Because if they keep allowing the “defund the police” brand to muddy their narrative, they will alienate voters and most likely be in for a world of hurt during the 2022 midterms and well into the 2024 election.
It’s not a matter of being deceptive. It’s a matter of clarity. If your goal (or one of your goals) is to make it easier for the police to do their jobs correctly and thereby make society safer for everyone – that needs to be stated clearly and concisely – not as an afterthought because your marketing message was muddled or just plain inaccurate.
“Defunding the Police” is a noble cause worth fighting for. But if Democrats can’t convince voters that is the case so they can win elections and change policy, it won’t matter.
I know, I know, I got political at the end. Luckily, that is totally on-brand for me.