Can advertising save the Scottish Independence debate?
Scotland, associated with hard men, fine whisky, Irn-Bru, tartan, Archie Gemmill and Wet Wet Wet (both the band and the weather). A place of passion, beauty and strong opinion. So what on earth is going on with the referendum debate?
Cameron and Salmond need a referendum rethink
The political discussion surrounding Scottish independence is surely one of the most important of our times and yet already it is descending into tiny point scoring. It’s dull dull dull, from the fake cabinet meetings held in Travelodge meeting rooms to the pointless arguing about the pound. You get the feeling it will be decided by a tug of war on the village green.
In the end most decisions are made of emotion, supported by a few facts. The 'no' campaign needs a jump-start and this is where advertising can help. There is nothing better than great political advertising that pokes its finger right into heart of the debate, provokes emotions and gives the media something to talk about.
I have had first-hand experience of this when my last agency produced the campaign for Ken Livingstone's mayoral push. We ambushed the Boris camp by coming out unexpectedly with all guns blazing in the Evening Standard, accusing a chubby cartoon Boris of being a pickpocket for raising tube fares. Overnight we went from miles behind in the polls to four points ahead. When Ken cried watching our party election broadcast the media went nuts.
Alex Salmond and David Cameron going toe to toe at the moment seems to have all the impact of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John having a spat at the drive-in in Grease. I expect this suits Cameron as he is probably hoping that the debate fails to catch anyone’s imagination or emotions and nothing changes.
Salmond needs to stir up emotions and light the blue touch paper and decorate Scotland with posters. Headlines like “David Cameron, no more drilling Scotland” or “North Sea Oil Rigged” would start to get the blood pumping.
If I were David Cameron I would simply respond by creating a Union Jack without the blue and stick it up everywhere. One of the world's most iconic symbols and the visual equity destroyed. The sheer ugliness of it should be enough to make any sane Scotsman run to reject. Millions of people will not thank them in the 13 other countries that contain the Union Jack, like Australia, Canada and New Zealand, who will all have to change their flags, commemorative mugs and duvet covers. The sheer scale of Union Jack branded products being thrown out could cause an ecological disaster. Only advertising can get to the real issues at play like this.
So come on Salmond and Cameron, use advertising to start getting serious. And by the way, while we are at it, what are we going to do about Scotch Eggs in England? The implications just keep growing and growing.