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There is a word which describes what the Conservatives are trying to do by linking the UK’s inner city drug problem to cult US TV drama ‘The Wire’.

Verisimilitude.

Apologies. I know it’s unpronounceable and looks like an excuse to use a big word but it describes what shadow home secretary Chris Grayling was attempting to generate when drawing the comparison. It is what any solid campaign needs for credibility and clarity.

But there’s a fine line between verisimilitude and marketing nonsense – for instance, does anyone believe David Beckham would get excited about a pen that isn’t jewel encrusted and only works with ink extracted (sustainably) from a rare squid?

And that’s part of the problem with the Conservatives evoking a cult TV series constantly plugged by The Guardian. It smacks of one too many ‘blue sky’ sessions at Millbank where ‘no idea is a bad one’ and everyone is giddy at the thought of Government. It’s just a little bit too try hard.

Can we expect Gordon Brown to stumble out of Number 10 in a vest, dressing gown and slippers to fetch his paper as he enters what his makeover people call ‘Operation Soprano’. After all, someone paid $11,000 for this.

Tags: Conservatives, David Beckham, The Sopranos, The Wire

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Media, PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.