Political Mailers: The Eight-Track of Spam


Kelvin Wade: Do mailers really work in races?

By Kelvin Wade | | October 31, 2007 16:48
With the furor over local political mailers and hit pieces, the thing that keeps going through my mind is who is reading political mailers? Political mailers are like the original spam. It's the eight-track of spam and it's amazing we still have to deal with it in 2007.

I'm thinking about hooking up a crosscut shredder underneath my mailbox so the mailman can just feed them right in there.

Have you been to the post office this time of year? The waste cans inside are usually overflowing with political mailers as people fish the offending colorful leaflets from their P.O. boxes and circular file them en masse.

So why would anyone get their information from a mailer?

My girlfriend and I went on a lovely five-day cruise to Mexico last week. Before I booked it, do you think I just took the cruise line's word on what it would be like? Do you think I received an advertisement in the mail hawking cruises and immediately called a travel agent? Heck no.

I read countless reviews by ordinary people who'd taken that cruise, saw photos of every deck of the ship and studied the deck layout. By the time I set foot on the ship, it was like I'd been there before.

I would hope voters educate themselves by going to candidates' Web sites once, attending candidate forums or talking to candidates themselves, googling them or reading voter guides.

How does the hit piece even work anymore? Everyone knows that in the waning days of a campaign, the hit pieces start hitting mailboxes. And usually, like the ones that tore Fairfield City Council incumbent Jack Batson a new one last weekend, they're from anonymous sources or obscure sources.

I'm a boxing fan and in boxing, when a fighter hasn't done much during a round, they pour it on in the closing seconds to impress the judges and 'steal the round.' That's what a late launching hit piece is like.

Activist Juanita Schiel, who claimed responsibility for the anti-Batson mailers, was reportedly satisfied with the publicity her Make Fairfield Safe group received.But what did it really do? Disclosing Make Fairfield Safe's backers just underscores the issue of money in the campaign once again. It unfairly tagged candidates Chuck Timm and Matt Garcia. (I know some would argue that Jack Batson did that.) And it's bound to rouse Batson voters as much as anti-Batson voters. I think it was a wash.

Unfortunately, the people that political mailers and hit pieces work on aren't likely to be reading this column right now. Those people are a few pages over chortling over the latest exploits of Beetle Bailey.

While I sit amazed that anyone would pause to read a political mailer, they must work. Why else would campaigns spend thousands of dollars on these things? But how about giving voters a reason to vote for someone rather than against someone else? Peace.

Comments

powerofprint said…
WHy do people rely on printed material for their political info? Because many consumers prefer printed material. At the risk of making generalizations -older folks prefer paper based communications and older people vote at higher rates than younger voters. That would make print a sound strategy for political mailers. The real "enemy" in this is poorly executed, poorly addressed political mail that ends up being irrelevant, mis-targeted and ultimately undeliverable. My company prints so you know where I stand. I believe well done mail- good creative, carefully selected lists, good list hygene to eliminate duplicates, deceased, moved adressees, using recycled and FSC papers and eco friendly print practices makes print effective for relevant political messaging. When one objectively considers the carbon footprint of the internet/email infrastructure -billions of servers - all consuming electricity 24/7.
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