There is no shortage of gaps in politics in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Regular readers will be familiar with the Credibility Gap. That’s the space between what a
politician says and what the politician does.
Marketers forget that when it comes to reputation and
hence lasting, reliable political support, actions speak far louder than words.
They talk about brands and branding. If
you spend any time digging into brands and branding you will find really vague
definitions that quickly lead you to the revelation that brands are for
marketing what dependency theory and neo-liberalism are for left-wing
academics.
True in civilian marketing.
Doubly true in political marketing.
The gap between words and actions may not turn up
right away but it does have an impact.
So take a look at the end of four months of Andrew Furey’s
premiership at the number of times he has talked about “big, bold ideas”.
Now looked at his actions.
Nothing big or bold about them.
And the ideas are very familiar. Pour government money into this hole or
that. Hold a government-issue dog and
pony show to watch the politicians pouring public money into the hole.
Rinse. Repeat.
