New posters, new slogans, new look?
Only three days after the first round of the French presidential election and already the finalists are looking like different people.
While the campaign for the second round officially starts on Friday, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have already released their new posters and slogans. The En Marche! candidate calls for “Together, France!” against Marine Le Pen’s “Choose France”. Contacted by the newspaper l’Express, Christian Delporte, professor at Versailles University and expert in political communication, gives his analysis:
“Macron is looking for an image of authority and credibility”
Like in the first round, Macron revealed his posters and slogan first.
With a more classic blue background and a close-up on his face, Emmanuel Macron “has to show that he can be a president despite his young age and he is looking for an image of authority and credibility”.
This new poster has dropped the image of the French people marching behind Macron, that featured in his previous campaign images. Christian Delporte sees this as a problem because “we don’t see the modernity he managed to bring through his campaign. Without considering the fact that it is not really original”.
If we look at his slogan “Together, France!”, we can see the desire to bring the French people together. The Professor at Versailles University sees a “uniting slogan which doesn’t cost much and calls to mind Chirac’s “France together” in 2002”. We can also find similarities with Sarkozy’s 2007 poster.
“Marine Le Pen wants to soften her image”
Revealed a few hours after Macron, Le Pen’s poster aims to “soften her image” with this poster.
Her position is more original as she is seated on a desk in front of a library. It reminds of the Elysée library used by the former Presidents Sarkozy, Mitterrand, Pompidou and De Gaulle for official portraits.
However, the expert in political communication finds this position “disturbing”: “she looks like she’s hesitating between different postures. It is a problem when you are president, or you pose standing, or sitting at your desk. The in-between sends an unusual message”.
Concerning the slogan, the Front National candidate chose to put the slogan more in the center and got rid of “In the name of the people”. “‘Choose France’, it’s Marine Le Pen’s option against a fratricidal and inhuman project”, explained David Rachline in a press conference. “This second round is a referendum for or against France” stated Le Pen’s campaign director.
To conclude, Mr Delpote reckons that Le Pen is the more aggressive candidate. “It’s a really political slogan that implies that if she “chooses France”, Macron is, therefore, the candidate for the globalisation and foreigners”.
