We Love a Man in Uniform
Bio , produced by
Seder, Laguens and Hamburger for Harmon for Mayor.
Just when you thought it was
safe to turn on your television, the political spots are back. No matter that
the president is back in the White House and Newt is in the speaker's
chair--odd-numbered years like this one bring what campaigners call "off-year
elections," the gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey and mayoral
races in big cities like Los Angeles and New York.
Bio , produced for St.
Louis mayoral hopeful Clarence Harmon by Dawn Laguens, presents something of an
anomaly: an African-American Democrat running to the right. The candidate,
Clarence Harmon, faces another African-American Democrat--incumbent Freeman
Bosley (St. Louis is forbidden ground for Republicans). The Harmon-Bosley
rivalry is not new: Harmon was the police chief under Bosley until he quit in
1995, claiming political interference from the mayor's office.
The spot is crafted to reach
more conservative voters by building on Harmon's image as a man who's tough on
crime. Both image and issue also resonate in the black community, whose
neighborhoods have been hit the hardest by crime. The ad opens like a
traditional biography. "As a young boy," the narrator reassures us, "he worked
to help support his family." The language is precisely calibrated, giving no
details about the child's labors. The accompanying photograph reinforces the
squeaky-clean image--the picture might have been the only one available, or one
of a small handful, but it strikes a note that will carry through the spot:
Harmon is always well-dressed, and he is always smiling.
The next scene is a
photograph of Harmon as a young soldier, conveying both the passage of years
and steadiness of character. The hard-working boy has become a man who does the
tough jobs, but the smile endures. Again, the language is careful, precise;
again, it says little: "When duty called, he stepped forward." The words echo
that famous line from John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address and evoke an image of
the stalwart soldier answering the clarion call to battle. Did Harmon
volunteer, or was he drafted?
The spot then puts Harmon in
a new uniform, this time the police chief's. Unfolding headlines reiterate
Chief Harmon's public service. "A Chief Who Welcomes Change"--you can bet that
polling results show the people want change, as usual. "First Black to Lead
Force," the only racial reference, attempts to touch black pride while still
appealing across racial lines. And finally, "Super-Chief Clarence Harmon," a
much stronger fillip than a conventional bio spot's recitation of the
candidate's achievements.
The spot then moves to the
present--and the problem: a shot of an abandoned lot with the St. Louis Arch in
the background and a chyron proclaiming, "Our city cries out for a leader."
Overworked language, no doubt, but effective shorthand that communicates how
St. Louis has been stripped of its vitality as people and businesses have moved
to the suburbs. Continuous narration ("once again, Clarence Harmon answers the
call") implies that Harmon is the person the city needs, as the camera captures
him shaking hands with a white leader. Though Harmon is in a coat and tie here,
we keep seeing him as he was and as he's really running--as a man in uniform
who was ousted by the system and has now stepped up to the plate, yet again.
Whether or not he can "solve problems" as the chyron suggests he will, and
despite the fact that Bio is mute on his plans, the leaders and cops who
surround him in these scenes provide visual endorsements, suggesting that he
stands for progress.
The chyron announcing that
he will "stop corruption" appears over a scene apparently set in a district
attorney's office. This may be fertile ground, and taps a background of
accusations (against the incumbent mayor's father, against the circuit clerk)
and intrigue (about a mysterious murder, and about the mayor himself being
barred for life from federal projects after allegedly defaulting on an $8
million HUD loan). Harmon is running by default as the anti-corruption
candidate.
The last two scenes carry
the same message: "Help our city to be great again." What does "great" imply
here? The spot hopes viewers will fill in the blanks with "old-fashioned
values," "law and order," "economic growth," and "cleaning up government," all
of which the spot has claimed Harmon stands for. And who constitutes the "our"
in "our city"? The visuals first focus on elderly white women and then cut
across racial lines to a mixed group of children, an appeal for change, a break
from the past.
The pileup of clichés ends
with a safe "Clarence Harmon, Mayor." Nothing strident, nothing to disapprove
of.
Nothing
to pop the corks over, either.
--Robert Shrum
