Two Strands
Page 62
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Political Commentary By JANUS
ONE significant feature that may be detected in the appointment of advertising agents by the Road Haulage Association for their forthcoming campaign is the evident separation between advertising and what it is now customary to call public relations. Both methods of persuasion will be used, but as far as one can gather for different purposes. The separation corresponds roughly to that between the two lines of approach that have been visible ever since there was talk of a campaign.
Hauliers have previously shown little enthusiasm for generalized advertising on their behalf, whether it is designed to get. them more traffic or to enhance their prestige. They have seen more point in it since the Labour Party started to publish booklets on the subject of the control and ownership of industry. The recommendations they put forward have been in extremely vague terms, and therefore almost without value as expressions of policy.
Staunch Retainers
There is good reason for this. The Socialists know that they must make the right nationalization noises to please their staunch retainers, but that they would offend a far greater proportion of the electorate if the noises made sense. The one exception has been in the case of the renationalization of long-distance road haulage and of iron and steel. The brief and definite insistence on this point has shown up all the more clearly against the dim background of platitudes and ambiguities.
The first reaction of hauliers to any political threat is to talk about publicity and advertising. Another development was having a similar effect. Moving in the same direction as the Socialist propaganda, although independent of it, was the fairly heavy expenditure by the British Transport Commission, and more notably by British Road Services, on selling themselves to the public. The tendency is to spend more rather than less, although the size of the fleet has shrunk. In 1952, the year before disposal began, B.R.S. spent £65,494 on publicity. Last year, in spite of the fact that they had sold back to free enterprise more than half their vehicles, the expenditure had mounted to £162,061.
Hauliers saw that it would not be wise to ignore the double challenge from the Labour Party and from B.R.S. Advertising by State-owned road transport might be no more than a businessmanceuvre, but if as a subsidiary effect there were a shift of public opinion in favour of B.R.S., the political danger to hauliers would increase, and the task that the Socialists have grimly set themselves would be a little less unpopular.
Inconvenient Adherence The public, in so far as they care at all, have a highly favourable image of free-enterprise road haulage. This image has to be kept untarnished by positive means, that is to say by reinforcing it with suitable publicity rather than by blackening the name of B.R.S. At the same time, the attempt must at least be made to divert the Labour Party from their obstinate and inconvenient adherence to a dogmatism that sees transport only in terms of a monopoly.
It now seems as if the hauliers have made up their minds on how they wish to conduct a campaign directed towards the achievement of both their aims. They are collecting among themselves a fund that they hope will realize £100,000. Most of this, perhaps 80 or 90 per cent, will be spent through the newly appointed agents on buying c24
space in the Press, and on the other usual supplementary forms of advertising, such as films, exhibitions, leaflets and posters. Television advertising, which some hauliers would like to see used, may have to be excluded from the programme. It is costly; and however delicately the subject is handled, there would be difficulty in separating the commercial and political strands sufficiently to satisfy the television authority that they are not transgressing their charter.
Political Objective
The difficulty is inherent in the theme rather than in its expression through the actual advertisements. The campaign as conducted by the agents is unlikely to have primarily a political objective. Any political flavour that it may have will lie in the palate of the reader. The use of such words as "free enterprise," however neutral in intent, is bound to stir his political senses, favourably or otherwise; just as, however expertly the cook may mix and disguise his ingredients, our taste buds tell us in a moment if he has been using garlic.
It is something of a paradox that the demand for a publicity campaign, and the willingness of hauliers to make contributions for the purpose, although undoubtedly motivated by a political threat, appears to have had, as its first result, an advertising scheme to market their services. However, there is little doubt that the policy, is the right one.
People normally look to advertisements to help them choose the-best products or services, and not to help them form or change their political opinions. The exception is at the time of a General Election, or when a controversial piece of legislation is actually in preparation or on its way through Parliament. At the present time, the use of advertising space to carry anti-nationalization slogans is not likely to be effective. It will be looked at favourably by people who already believe what it says. The remainder will be hardened in the contrary opinion.
Says a Few Words
The second strand in the campaign will come into use roughly where the first leaves off. Public relations are not like Press advertising, which can be turned on and off at will. They are happening all the time: whenever a haulier writes a letter to his local paper, or puts up for the local council, or says a few words at a meeting of his chamber of commerce, or enters his men for the Lorry Driver of the Year competition; or even when he paints one of his vehicles.
It is this kind of activity that, in the aggregate, influences public opinion. If the next General Election brings back a Socialist government, they will undoubtedly take office with the intention of doing something about renationalization. What action they will take in the end may vary between a reversion to the position before the passing of the Transport Act, 1953—plus some restriction on the C-licende holder—and a comparatively mild amendment in the law so as to permit an increase in the power of B.R.S. to expand.
The public relations side a the hauliers' campaign must to some extent help to determine what point will be chosen between these two extremes. The advertising side will also play its part. The two strands will be all the stronger for being woven into one rope..