• by Mark Naples , June 4, 2004

For most of my clients, I'm a PR guy. I've been involved in some kind of "strategic communications" since 1987. So, I have a special appreciation for the power of images, messages, and well-executed campaigns.

Moving from 11 years of "inside the beltway" style communications in Washington, DC, to the interactive marketing arena in the mid to late 1990's, I immediately noticed how relatively little empirical rigor was necessary in making assertions away from the kind of advocacy work I was doing in DC. Corporations and individuals make claims everyday that seem specious to me, with no real basis in truth. It's not just our industry, of course. Those of you in the finance world know how much more rigor has to be maintained now than was required just three years ago, thanks to new regulations imposed after major corporate finance scandals.

I mention all of this as prelude, because we're currently knee-deep in an era of media hyperbole, and I firmly believe that it will affect the world stage in the coming six months.

I've managed to get myself in trouble in this space before by criticizing the Bush administration, but always through their handling of the media and through their leverage of tailored images. They have always seemed too opportunistic to me, with too little substance, too little of the empiricism I referenced earlier. The same PR geniuses who brought us the aircraft carrier landing a year ago, complete with Commander in Chief in flight suit, declaring victory - have Abu Ghraib images to deal with now. As a PR guy, this seems akin - in a corporate sense - to what was revealed behind the curtain at Enron or Worldcom or any number of the dot-bombers that went belly up in 2000. In terms of the messages, as resonant as they were in the moment, there was simply nothing there over time. So, now there is something of a comeuppance afoot. So far, they've not done so well, have they?

Blending Facts with Fiction - Extremely Well
Some would call that aircraft landing and speech a fiction wrapped in a photo op. Right about that time, everyone's favorite book hit the shelves. I'm hoping that the still strong buzz over The Da Vinci Code fades, but I doubt it will. Every time I hear someone else crowing over all it "reveals," I have to restrain myself from shaking them and screaming, "Fiction! It's fiction, silly!" The fact is, whether fiction or not, well-told stories, in this case, a best-selling novel, in the first case, a proclamation of a desired outcome, with romantic, and resonant images, will stick in the public consciousness. They always have.

Which brings us to the most powerful media of all - movies - and what I am predicting will happen on the heels of two movies that many of us will see in the next couple of months. Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Day After Tomorrow are two films that the Bush Administration would rather not have any of us see. As you all know by now, Fahrenheit 9/11 is Michael Moore's evisceration of the federal government's response to the awful day and the terrorist threat, and The Day After Tomorrow is a science fiction action thriller that may heat up the global warming debate by superheating its depiction of the anticipated results.

There may be nary a spec of truth presented in either of these films. Moore's critics assert that he can't tell the difference between truth and fiction. And any film on global warming that depicts a killer frost chasing its would-be victim down a corridor and a tsunami swamping Manhattan can't be too interested in trying to be true.

But, both these films will have millions of viewers mesmerized and considering their view of events, or would-be events. In both cases, the Bush administration's positions will be scrutinized. And, much of this scrutiny will be floated on the Web, much of it coming from and passing through the increasingly popular site www.moveon.org, which was created to get voters and others to get over Bill Clinton's lothario complex and idiotic dalliances, and move on to important policy matters.

About 25 years ago, I attended a movie called The China Syndrome, starring Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda, (of course). It was an anti-nuclear power movie, made in the months following Three Mile Island. It depicted a California Nuclear power station that suffers from systemic flaws that the greedy utility wants to cover up. Fonda plays a brave reporter trying to get to the truth, and Lemmon plays a plant executive who ultimately helps her uncover the truth as he gives his own life. Viewing it today, it seems far too melodramatic. But, back then this was a very impactful film on the national consciousness. After leaving the movie, I recall being approached by multiple canvassers who were offering pamphlets on the dangers of nuclear power and on what "really happened" at TMI.

As we all know, in the wake of TMI, this film, and in something of a non-sequitur, Chernobyl, no other nuclear power plant has been licensed in the United States. That media is pretty powerful stuff. Remember - nobody died at TMI. Nobody even got sick. Not even any cows in the nearby farms produced changes in their milk. If you ask anyone between the ages of 35 and 50, they probably recall the movie and event, but they probably blend the images of them together when they do. And that was before the Web.

Don't be surprised if, six months from now, two movies have an even greater impact on the national stage, with the Web as the accelerator.