They shoot...they miss

Roger Hislop

I have a lot of sympathy for the Democratic Alliance. Respect, even admiration. They’ve been a small, somewhat strident, but dependably consistent voice that demands that attention be paid to democratic liberal values: rule of law, equality, good governance, all those laudable things. So I’ve generally given them a pass on their more ham-fisted publicity and election strategies (note to any DA leader that may read this: Rule One of Marketing…no, call it Rule Zero…never, ever, ever (or at least hardly ever) slag off the competition. It makes you look weak, petty, negative and lacking in your own ideas. This applies to consumer products, to business consultants, to political parties. Just stop it. It’s a strategy that has never failed to fail).

OK. Moving on quickly. Let’s rather talk about the DA’s “activation” on the Sea Point promenade on this past Monday night that ended the Easter Weekend. It was just too awful and funny for words. It could have been – should have been – great. Maybe not changing lots of hearts and minds coming up to the elections on the 22nd, but at least it's a great way for Cape Town people to spend an evening, with the DA getting some kudos for it.

The local DA office set up a large screen to do a free public movie showing, where you could take a blanket, lie on the grass, snack on a picnic and catch a movie. The idea is that the DA sponsors the first few, and then it’s taken up by another sponsor as an ongoing regular activity, and it’s a fine concept. It raises awareness of the DA, and positions them as involved in the community. Nice.

Except that it was very poorly advertised (I heard by chance), with no signage nearby to let you know what was going on, and not even any DA branding until fifteen minutes before the show started (if you call a handful of A3 sized cards wedged against the base of the screen “branding”).

** UPDATE 16/04/09 - apparently it was not a DA event, they were simply kindly supporting the initiative led by the Ward Councillor, JP Smith (see the comment below). So DA, sorry for saying your marketing sucked. In this specific case...). So... back to the story **

But fair enough, it’s a start. It can only get better. Or so I thought.

And then the movie started. It’s called “The Opus”, and if you thought “The Secret” was time-wasting, pernicious nonsense, then try “The Opus”. It’s basically an infomercial for the associated DVDs, coursework and other self-help tat. Loosely based on the life of famous violinist and composer, Vincenzo Vivaldi*, who supposedly on his deathbed said the Opus was the driver behind all his success, it follows this talented little rapscallion from his berth on an immigrant ship sailing to the New World, his picking out a violin at a junk-shop, and the fame and fortune following, interspersed with wide-eyed, breathless cuts to the usual gallery of ’Merican motivational speakers and self-help gurus.

We can only speculate that the DA chose this title to that they wouldn’t need to pay for rights to publicly broadcast something watchable like Batman Begins, Yentl or Zulu Dawn.

** UPDATE 16/04/09 - it appears this is more or less exactly the reason, but largely because the local movie distributors didn't want to come to the party (as it were). Hey, movie industry... this is why everyone hates you and tollerates piracy. Because we all think you're bastards. And you keep showing us we're right. **

Within ten minutes my little posse had decided that a drink up the road at Harvey’s was a much more productive way to spend an evening. That, and the one stand-out line from the movie… “Vivaldi came from the Old Country, Europe…”

* But isn’t Vivaldi’s first name Antonio? Yes it is, you clever clogs. Vincenzo Vivadi appears to be a figment of the film-maker’s imagination.
 

• 2009/04/14
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