The enveloppe

[chani]

That's it, it has arrived. I found the enveloppe in my mail box this afternoon. Inside there were the 12 ballots and the 12 propaganda information letters from our 12 candidates. They are A3 size, folded in two, which gives 4 pages. The first page usually shows the poster of the candidate as it appears on streets.

So I've decided to scan them for you and post here my analysis. I will mostly parse the first page of each letter for I'm sure it's the most important part of their propaganda. 
Since there are 4 days left I will do 3 candidates per day following the alphabetical order. Feel free to play along and give your insight ! I'm sure that everybody could come up with interesting stuff even though you aren't French citizens and perhaps for that very reason.

Let's start with B...

So the first candidate is François Bayrou. Here's the first page of his letter:



He chose a big picture of himself which plays on the idea that he's the man we need.  The dark suit and the tie are an obvious symbol of authority, of law (it has alawys been that way in cards-reading and on medieval paintings) but the shirt with blue stripes softens his look and matches the blue sky behind him. If you look at the poster closely there's a bit of a landscape behind him on the right, obviously showing the countryside to which Bayrou claims to belong (so many years ago Mitterrand also played on that country card). There's still a bit of a farmers' lobby in France...Besides a big candidate is supposed to have a geographical/electoral stronghold.

The handwritten text adds to the personalization of the poster and makes him closer to the voters, turning this propaganda into a wannabe epistle. It's an old trick in politics. He uses the future in the sentence, showing a certain amount of self-confidence here: "I will be the president who will gather the French people to make them live together". There he establishes a direct link between him and the nation. It's very De Gaulle-like. Accoridng to the constitution as De Gaulle inspired it in 1958, the President is supposed to be above all the parties, not to be the representant of one party.

The text below his name(The France of all our forces) also suits his political theme of "neither left nor right" but gathering people from everywhere. The font is yellow/orange suggesting sunny future and success. His attitude and body language are interesting. He's a centrist and therefore his being is everywhere! His body (head, torso) is mostly on the left BUT the text with his signature is on the right, the landscape is on the right and his hands are also on the right. 

The joined hands may represent the political gathering he's asking for in his bottom message but they are centred on the right side of the poster which totally fits in Bayrou's political position, right-centre. The gesture seems to suggest that he's determined (a fist in the hand!) but level-handed. It is also a good way to show his wedding ring and play on a conformist ground. Bayrou is a Catholic !

There's probably more to interpret (the use of his dimples maybe?)but I'm done.



So who wants to play? I will post the two other posters later and we'll analyze them together. Okay?

I know, I know it's a very teacher thing to do, but I don't have my students at hand these days so bear with me.
 

Comments

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

His face is on the left, because using Roman lettering the French scan a poster from left to right. This means they will see his face first. The dimples give him a look that pleases. He is almost smiling, but not quite.

All in all his poster is old-fashioned. Especialy the hand-writing reminds me of political posters back in the day when I wasn't allowed to vote: late 80s, early 90s. The way he's portrayed breaks with that. He's a bit more aimable and less severe.

The background is added btw, and sloppy: look at his ears.

L'orange est la couleur des Chrétiens-Démocrats ici...

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Old-fashioned is totally accurate! It's the word I couldn't find when writing but it fits.

Merci pour le lien avec les Chrétiens-Démocrates belges. C'est vrai que c'est une couleur qui a un sens politique.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

It really isn't a presidential campaign for me. I've seen better campaigns during the latest communal elections over here, than this one. The so-called "presidential campaign" of Antwerp's mayor comes to mind (a lot of "famous" people from Antwerp pictured in black and white, and the text (handwritten!) simply said "Patrick" with no reference to a political party whatsoever). Or the poster with prime minister Guy Verhofstadt (Flemish liberals) and vice-minister of budget Freya Vandenbossche (Flemish socialists) together on a bench to give their support to the liberal-socialist coalition that was ruling their hometown Ghent and wanted to stay on. Both these campaigns succeeded where Bayrou fails: they were up-to-date, without direct party-ties, and played on a person without being about this person. In the first case the one you had to vote for didn't appear on the actual posters, but his supporters. In the second case the two personalities portrayed had nothing to do with city politics, because they're both in the federal government. And both campaigns received a lot of media coverage that went wider than where they were actualy needed, i.e. national media showing a campaign that's made for a sole city! Err yeah, I'd never vote for Guy Verhofstadt, but that specific campaign was very well done. I'll see whether I can find images...

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Both these campaigns succeeded where Bayrou fails: they were up-to-date, without direct party-ties, and played on a person without being about this person. In the first case the one you had to vote for didn't appear on the actual posters, but his supporters. In the second case the two personalities portrayed had nothing to do with city politics, because they're both in the federal government.

But it wasn't a Presidential. Communal and legislative elections are very different. The office of President is a little bit like a King job in our Constitution hence the comments about our system being a Republican Monarchy.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

No it wasn't, but they made it feel toward the public like it could be a presidential where the sitting president is going for their second term...

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Campaign of Patrick Janssens for Antwerp: http://www.burgemeestervanantwerpen.be/fotoshoots/index.html

Can't find the other one at the moment and it's dinner time.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

It's very people, like he had a fanclub or something, definitely not the way politics is considered over here!

Those numerous Patricks made me smile...

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Not the way politics is considered over here either! But Patrick Janssens comes from the advertising world (can you see) and took up the place as mayor of Antwerp after numerous problems with the city counsil. This was some sort of re-election that played upon the fact people liked him as mayor. Adversaries said he was being self-centered in a presidential campaign -- that he was letting people believe they could directly vote for their mayor (which they can't, but the person with the most votes has a big advantage of course). Afterwards it became clear it actualy worked: he was able to become the politician with the most votes behind his name. Up until October of last year that had always been Filip De Winter from Vlaams Belang in Antwerp.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

But Patrick Janssens comes from the advertising world (can you see)

Oh yes it's pretty obvious!

By the way the role of advertising in politics and especially the role of communication advisers has been criticized a lot lately. It is perceived as a drift.

[syderia]

Il regarde droit devant lui, aussi, ce qui renforce son lien avec le spectateur.

Il n'a pas l'air de porter de montre, ce qui peut vouloir dire qu'il ne comptera pas son temps au service des Français.

Je pense aussi qu'il a choisi l'orange pour avoir une couleur chaude sur son affiche.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Good catch on the watch!

;- )

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Interesting analysis. The first thing I noticed was how much he has emphasised the wedding ring. It's "look at me, I am stable and reliable because I am a married man".

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

True. I do believe the ring is significant indeed. And he's the only one using that card.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Beautiful tie-in with the fact he's old-fashioned. ;-)

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

He isn't labelled Christian-demo for nothing!

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

One thing I'm curious about: to French eyes, does saying "réunira les Français" seem totally unexceptional and normal - or would you expect to read "réunira les Français et Françaises" instead?

I know that a British politician promising to "unite Englishmen" would certainly draw adverse comment...

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

It's because "les Français" doesn't only mean the "Frenchmen" but also the "French people". Besides had he written "réunira les Français et les Françaises" it would have sound weird because it would have implied that Françaises and Français had been separated for some reason which isn't what he meant. The divisions he hinted at were not genre-related!

[lijability.livejournal.com]

You forgot his "bedroom eyes!"



Except he also has a simple gold wedding band that indicates his stability.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I never noticed his "bedroom eyes"!