It makes them sound interesting

One of the troubles of getting old is that you find yourself repeating the same stories. There are only so many ways to say the same thing. Having blogged for well over ten years now (thirteen years to be precise) it is inevitable that I will have to use the same material from time to time. Interestingly though, I can use the same story to highlight different points.

I take myself back therefore to Oxford, somewhere in the early eighties when I was a young salesman for an automotive aftermarket company. My sales manager at the time left me with this pearl of wisdom. It was about the only pearl he offered however. He said to me ‘Don’t diss the competition, it only makes them sound interesting.’

His premise was that by highlighting the weaknesses or failings of your competition, your potential customer was left with the impression that you were trying to hide something and perhaps the competition had more to offer than you would like to admit. His remedy was to say that the competitor was a good company but this is what we had to offer instead. Clients want to deal with the positive image of your company rather than hear you highlighting what you are not.

This brings me nicely to the politics of today. If there is one person that is a leading light in today’s UK political scene, it is the leader of Reform. Love him or loathe him , nobody can deny that he is a master of the media. He has managed to grab so much airtime and so many column inches way above his actual representation in parliament or local government.

Yet what do his opponents do? They continue to diss him which does nothing but peak the interest of the electorate. Articles highlighting his and his party’s absurdities invariably carry a picture of the man. The image is remembered long after the words are forgotten and their actions only go to enhance the aura around him. 

Those people and parties that wish to stop his seemingly inevitable rise to power should stop promoting him, consciously or inadvertently. Rather than rising to the bait, they should offer an alternative, more positive view of what life could be like under their leadership. People don’t want to elect a poor cosplay version of something they can get for real. People want authenticity, vision and leadership.

They should stop promoting him, stop giving him the oxygen that his views and party thrives upon and definitely not use pictures of him – it only makes him sound interesting.