US Presidential Election Campaign: Mindless Flank gets one shot point blank

(Following article is courtesy Manish Kumar, Batch of 2010, FMS)

The US-presidential ad campaign between the rivals Barack Obama and John McCain has been one of the classic examples of aggressive flank attack strategy mostly pursued by McCain and to some extent by Obama side too. The main idea of these ads was to attack the competitor in the unexpected areas to catch them by surprise. It involved a lot of creative manipulation (mostly negative) of facts and principles to churn out limitations and the misfits of the competitor for the presidential seat. The ads developed and widely distributed during the campaign revolved around demeaning the rival candidate by projecting an undignified image unworthy for president ship. The deprecation in the campaign especially from McCain's side stooped to unprecedented low proportions and the ads started a virtual mudslinging from unforeseen angles.

"Dangerous... Not truthful... Hypocrite... Disrespectful..Not ready to lead."  were the warnings that McCain and the Republican National Committee aired about Obama."Out of touch... No maverick... Same failed policies... Sleazy ads... John McCain doesn't get it." Obama's campaign aired these warnings about McCain.

In a glaring example of flanking attack, in a particular McCain campaign ad, present in the report submitted, Obama was projected as a limelight hogging celebrity in the leagues of Paris Hilton and Britney spears questioning his integrity. So basically, his popularity which was an asset was misrepresented as a negative attribute not aligned with presidential virtues.

But in strategic marketing as in real life, a mindless excess of everything, almost invariably, tends to boomerang to one's debacle. The same holds true for flanking strategy, as was bluntly experienced by John McCain. After a certain limit , the flanking attack tends to nullify its effect by raising suspicion in the minds of the target audience about its genuineness, especially when the strategy is all focused on conjuring the weaknesses of the competitor instead of highlighting one's own selling proposition. The word was that 100% of McCain's ads were negative compared to 34% in case of Obama. The election results speak for themselves.