Republicans = Brand X?

The pernicious infiltration of our language, politics and culture by the banalities of CorporateSpeak proceeds apace.

For some time, I've been aware that people and institutions no longer have reputations -- reputations to uphold or overcome. Now everybody and everything is known by its respective "brand".

As a former marketer, I'm used to "branding" and aware of how the concept has leached out into the larger corporate world from its beginnings as a proprietary name for Ivory Soap or Carter's Little Liver Pills.

Branding has grown into the construction of a living myth that will beguile your target customers and bless your venture with favor and profit. Every aspect of the brand, like every gesture in a holy ritual, is freighted with symbolic power.

It's all a lot of hooey, as far as I'm concerned. You can construct the cutting edge logo, website, advertising campaign and promotional rollout and it will probably succeed -- for a while. BUT... if your product doesn't back up the promises, the customer will find out sooner or later and all the branding in the world won't help. Corporate executives don't like to believe this simple idea, however, and prefer to hire third-rate MBA consultants to give the brand a face-lift. It's easier than coming up with a new and better product.

So it is right now with the Republican Party. We keep hearing that the "Republican brand" has been hurt. Implied by this is that a little jiggering of the ad campaigns, a little message massage and an updated look will fix things.

Of course, it won't fix anything. The problem isn't that the "Republican brand" is suffering. It's the reputation of the Republican Party and its leaders which has imploded.

Most Americans have had enough and they can no longer ignore the corruption, the hypocrisy, the lies, the rot and the downright incompetence at governing that Republicans have lavishly demonstrated for the last seven and a half years. They have a BAD REPUTATION, and as anyone who has lived in a small town will tell you, you have to go a long way to redeem yourself once you've lost the respect and good will of the people.

The only thing that can bring the Republicans back to favor is to follow a path of redemption that starts with some honest reassessment -- and hope that the Democrats will commit the same errors of hubris and overreach.