Chapter 4: Proposal of a campaign strategy

Public perception of corruption

We already have evidence of the target population we want the campaign to appeal to. However, corruption and insecurity are widespread problems and their perceptions are studied.

LAPOP report provides data on perception of corruption and victimization levels (2012). Seriousness of corruption is estimated at 77%. About 30% of population is forced to give bribes. The groups of population who correlate with corruption victimization are men, native speakers of indigenous languages, residents of bigger cities, and people with better education.

Same report correlates victims of crime with other parameters. People most suffering from crime live predominantly in the cities, are of younger age, are students or work and have better education. Both personal suffering of crime and corruption and the general perception of these problems within the society correlate with disapproval and distrust of the government.

Thus the review of the Humala’s campaign proposes campaigning towards the impoverished rural population or middle and upper age, while the LAPOP report suggests that the urbanized youth, working class and students are more concerned about the corruption and crime problems.

A review of correlation of candidate support with the socioeconomic class, place of residence and age is provided by the blog Voto Peruano 2011 with reference to the polls by La República (1 y 15 de mayo 2011). According to these surveys, the support of Ollanta Humala is noticeably higher in rural areas and among the people of 18-24 and more than 45 years old. As well, in the survey of May 1^st the southern and eastern rural regions of the country have more indecisive voters, but by May 15^th the distribution of the indecisive voters flattens out across the regions. Note that these figures are predictions, as the polls were conducted before the runoff elections took place.

All evidence suggests that there are different groups of voters to appeal to, thus the image and message of the campaigning cannot be too focused on one single group.

Message design

I propose to create a family of ads with uniform design and shape, but with disposable filling words. If the same message of “cleaning up” is repeated alongside different images of social and economic systems, it can reach broad classes of population.

My proposed core message statement is “Perú limpio, Perú claro”. This is the most general form of the message, appealing to the national pride of Peruvians and the unity of the country. This exact message should be used in places that do not favor any specific class of voters, such as main squares and public spaces like parks, shopping centers etc.

However, to reach more precisely specific groups of voters we need to appeal to their more local problems. I want to target people of specific occupations rather than members of specific organizations. From the research I know that Peruvians don’t have high affinity towards their political parties, and the workers unions are also not too strong. However, the miners work in the mines, the judges work in the courts and the people who drive a lot are to be found on the intercity roads. Instead of appealing in those areas to the generic “Perú limpio”, I propose to replace it with the name of the occupation, producing a family of similar slogans:

• Perú limpio, Perú claro

• Minería limpia, minería clara

• Justicia limpia, justicia clara

• Tránsito limpio, tránsito claro etc.