Make Advertising Great Again
Firstly, this week’s column will not be political. It will discuss politics, but will try to stay fairly unbiased either way. That being said, Joe Biden is senile, and Bernie was robbed. On with the article.
When Donald Trump first announced his intentions to run for President of the United States, few took him all that seriously (here’s looking at you, Hillary). Despite his prominence in the business world and widely recognizable corporate entities, Trump was considered a novelty. From a third-party perspective of American politics, there was always that imminent sense of “what if” when it came to Trump, but that was nowhere close to the forefront of our minds. This all changed once the infamous slogan “Make America Great Again” was championed by the campaign.
It always amuses me to see how quickly political campaigns revert to mere soundbites of their former selves. Take, for example, Brexit. All we were used to hearing was “Brexit means Brexit” and “350 million per week for the NHS.” Sure, it wasn’t hard to find out more information, but your average joe didn’t appear to give a shit about any deeper policies. Absent some wider affinity with politics, they still turned up to vote because, hell, why not? They were rallied not by understanding the issues at stake, but rather by easy to remember slogans and catchphrases. And therein lies the problem— how can you say something by not really saying anything at all? “Make America Great Again” proved an excellent example of this, giving the uninformed a grandiose message that spans multiple issues at once with one common goal: to benefit the great nation of America.
It was a stroke of genius, and rapidly became synonymous with Trump himself. The businessman that he is, Trump immediately flooded everywhere possible with MAGA apparel to the point that I could not walk down the street without seeing a cap or hoodie emblazoned with the slogan— and this was in London. I can only imagine how it was in the States at the time. A campaign is only as strong as it’s slogan, and Trump had picked a winner. “Hillary for America” never stood a chance. Firstly, it was all about her, whereas Trump wisely left his name out of the slogan, focusing solely on country. Secondly, the Democrats spent too much time fighting among each other to come up with anything new. History has since repeated itself, unsurprisingly, and Donald need not change his slogan. It has been so effective that people continue to laud the MAGA campaign nearly 5 years since it’s conception.
The most obvious way to gauge the cultural impact of a political campaign is by the volume of satirical content created in response. The fact that shows such as SNL (and to a lesser extent Curb Your Enthusiasm) continue to tiredly reference MAGA tells you all you need to know. It got under people’s skin, and it has firmly stayed there unlike any campaign in recent memory. Reagan used the same slogan in the 80’s, and guess what. He was elected President. If only Bernie had plagiarized.
I am not pro-Trump. There are many things I detest about “The Donald.” Yet, for better or for worse, I believe the “Make America Great Again” slogan won him the Presidency in 2016, and likely will once again. God help us all.
