A good slogan is a crucial element of an election campaign. The same rules apply here as in the case of introducing, for example, new drink to the market. It's necessary to have a slogan, and to be more specific, one's own slogan!
Authors of American textbooks on how to win elections even claim that slogans and watchwords are the keys to election success.
So did SLD politicians think when during their election convention on Sunday they solemnly sang their anthem 'Nie bedziesz, nie bedziesz juz sam' (You won't be, you won't be alone anymore), the melody of which turned out to be very similar to that of 'Down Under', the famous hit of the Australian band Men at Work. The party is denying the accusation claiming that the music was composed by Zbigniew Retkowski, the manager of a music recording company specializing in disco polo, while Retkowski on his part says that he has heard the hit 'Down Under' only now.
The commentary on the matter on the front page of yesterday's 'Trybuna' (Tribune) was written by its editor-in-chief himself, Dariusz Szymczycha:"The fact that the attacks were waged against SLD's election song and not its election platform is symptomatic of the campaign to come before September 21. The melody of associations will be more important than the programs.". Next to it there's a text on how UW stole its election slogan from Porozumienie Wyborcze 'Senior' (Election Convention 'Senior').
Freedom Union wants to use in the campaign the slogan 'W lewo? W prawo? Zawsze do przodu!' (Left? Right? Always forward!). Not well-known 'Senior' claims that UW politicians must have known their slogan before, as they had received Election Convention's brochure with the slogan in question, which was given to 'Senior' by Polska Partia Przyjaciol Piwa (Polish Party of the Friends of Beer).
'Senior' launched an attack on UW: 'The Union is depriving pensioners of intelectual values by appropriating the slogan already promoted by Election Convention 'Senior'. It also announced sueing UW.
Moreover Michal Zarzycki from the "Kreator - Image-Building" company, specializing in political marketing, points to the fact that the Union's slogan is not the best for it, as it emphasizes the party's internal division between the right and the left. Zarzycki advises the party to drop the first two elements of the slogan, so that only 'Zawsze do przodu!' (Always forward!) remains.
He also remarks that it is not possible to reserve the right to an election slogan in Poland - The Patent Office protects only trade marks connected with running a business, while ZAIKS protects only works of music and literature of high artistic value.
Theoretically, the slogan of SLD is not a bad one: Dobre dzis - lepsze jutro (Good today - better tomorrow), because it is short and succinct. According to Zarzycki, however, it is not a felicitous one, as it shows that SLD wants to boast of its successes and tell people that it is almost ideal.
- And this is not everybody's opinion - says Zarzycki. SLD's rivals from other parties have already paraphrased SLD's slogan as 'Lepsze jutro bylo wczoraj' (Better tomorrow was yesterday).
UP (Labor Union) chose the slogan 'Zaslugujesz na wiecej!' (You deserve more!).- But who deserved? - asks Zarzycki.- When during election meeting the activists of this party will stand under the slogan, it could look as if it is them who deserve more. And since they are in the opposition, it might suggest that they want posts in the government, as if they blamed the voters that they didn't vote for them.
As the best slogan he considers that of Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc (Solidarity Election Action): 'zAWSze: Polska, Wolnosc, Rodzina' (AlWayS: Poland, Freedom, Family). He advises, nevertheless, to drop the last three words and keep only the first one 'zAWSze' (AlWayS). It will be a well chosen trade mark of the product. As good as 'Always Coca-Cola'.
And what is an ideal slogan? A renown sociologist Olivier Reboul in the essay When a word becomes a weapon gives the following example: it's the slogan 'Now' with which Canadian Progressive-Conservative party won the election after 26 years of the rules of its political rivals!
But where to find such an ideal slogan? According to American specialists, who advise politicians on how to win elections, the slogan should not consist of more than seven words; it should be relevant, consise as well as easy to remember and chant by voters during election rallies. Zarzycki also adds that a slogan should be complete, that is, it should not allow for being extended in a malicious way (as it was in the case of UD's (Democratic Union) slogan from 1993 'Po pierwsze gospodarka' (First economy) and what second?). It should be unambiguous, containing only Polish words, easy to pronounce and remember. It should be adequate for the ego proposed by a party (not adequate was, for instance, the slogan of Liberals from 1993 'Milion nowych miejsc pracy' (A million of new jobs)). It was a good slogan for a leftist party, not a conservative one.
Plagiarism of election slogans is nothing new. Jacques Seguela, who became famous in the advertising world thanks to a few victorious campaigns of the President of France, Francois Mitterand, came up with the election slogan for Aleksander Kwasniewski - 'Wybierzmy Przyszlosc' (Let's choose the future). Later on, in the campaign of the French socialists, conducted by the very same Seguela, there appeared the slogan 'Let's change the future'. A coincidence?
And what about Tadeusz Mazowiecki's slogan from 1990 'Sila spokoju' (The power of calmness)? It was a calque of Mitterand's slogan from 1991. As Zarzycki notices, a successful one, as it ideally suited Mazowiecki. On the other hand, UW's election slogan from 1993 'Po pierwsze gospodarka' (First economy) - the translation of the slogan with which Bill Clinton won the presidential election in 1992 - was a bad idea, because for Poles economy is not most important.
Unfortunately, we will not know whether the slogan 'I'm fat, I'm heavy but I'm honest', which is a calque of the victorious election slogan of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, could catch on in Poland. Jan Parys from ROP (The Movement for Restoration of Poland) suggested it to Jan Olszewski. The latter rejected the slogan and got offended with Jan Parys.
