Will twerk work for Act?
David Seymour tries for popularity — at the risk of never being taken seriously
In Long Live Freedom, a 2013 Italian film, opposition party leader Enrico Olivieri senses impending political oblivion and decides to disappear from the public eye. In his absence, his right-hand man hatches an ingenious plan to extract the politician’s twin brother Giovanni from a mental health clinic and have him appear in lieu of his more subdued sibling.
The stunt works wonders. Where Enrico was dour and uninspiring, Giovanni is a consummate entertainer who captivates the masses and drives the party to victory. It’s a reminder that politics can be an elaborate pantomime, easily hi-jacked by the most entertaining figure in the room.
Act leader David Seymour doesn’t have the advantage of an eccentric twin to twerk on his behalf. He needs to shift his arse into both gears as he simultaneously plays the dual roles of media buffoon on Dancing With the
Stars and serious politician. It’s a conundrum perhaps best captured by what transpired on 12 June.
At a time when Seymour’s ears were probably still ringing from the widespread mockery about his butt gyrating on television, he put an oral question to the Prime Minister, asking whether she believed the Ministry of Social Development works hard to protect the integrity of the welfare system.
The disconnect between those two versions of the same person goes a long way towards illustrating the political risk Seymour is taking as his awkward dancing adventure is extended by the cringe-hungry voting audience. In politics, perception is everything — and Seymour’s prominent media image is currently wrapped in yellow and pink lycra.
Sherson Willis corporate affairs director Thomas Pryor, whose experience includes political advisory roles in both the New Zealand and UK parliaments, says he isn’t surprised by Seymour’s decision to tango with ridicule.
“Frankly, he had to do something because the Act brand was sinking into insignificance,” Pryor tells the Herald.
“He’s run out of options. He’s tried everything else, but Act’s polling has just been flat-lining. So he’s taken this high risk, high reward approach.”
Everybody’s talking
Pryor says the jury is still out on whether the strategy will reinvigorate Act, but it has allowed Seymour to two-step into the public consciousness.
“He might take a dent in his credibility on some issues, but he also has a whole lot of people talking about him who otherwise wouldn’t be talking about him. And if there’s a new generation of younger voters who engage and then go and look at their policies, that’s probably a win for him.”
Pryor also sees potential to humanise the Act brand, as attempted by former leader Rodney Hide, who memorably dropped his partner when appearing on the show in 2015.
“It could play a big role in making Seymour likeable, and by default the Act brand more likeable,” says Pryor. “That’s something he’s really struggled with, because Act’s had these tarnished hard-right connotations for a lot of voters. If he can come across as a likeable, reasonable guy, then that’s actually a big step forward.”
In that regard, Seymour’s penchant for awkwardness could work in his favour. After all, cringe factor was an essential ingredient in the media makeup of one of New Zealand’s most popular politicians.
“Kiwis really like the awkward dad factor in our politicians, and John Key did this incredibly well. I still remember when he did this awkward mince down the runway in promoting the Rugby World Cup a few years ago,” says Pryor.
“We really like politicians who can laugh and take the piss out of themselves. If Seymour was a good dancer, this would be worse for him. But because he’s up there, kind of laughing at himself and having a good time as well, that’s coming through in the votes.”
Goofiness, however, can go too far. At the end of Long Live Freedom, the audience is left in limbo, not knowing whether power will remain in the hands of the lovable lunatic or be handed over to his sensible brother. Seymour faces a similar challenge. Will he be able to wrestle his reputation back from his lycraclad twerking alter-ego, or will that be all voters think of when they see his name in the future?
The answer to that question may shed light on the future of the Act Party.
Positive numbers
Analytics firm Zavy tracked social media sentiment towards politicians through Facebook comments over the past 90 days and Seymour came out with a net score of 50 per cent positive.
For comparison, Jacinda Ardern had a net score of only 16 per cent positive, while Simon Bridges had 15 per cent.
While their sample sizes were far smaller, Shane Jones had a net score of 15 per cent negative, while Paula Bennett was further back at 72 per cent negative.
Streisand again
In another example of a New Zealander with a sometimes-awkward relationship with the media, multimillionaire property investor Sir Bob Jones this week faced an onslaught of unwanted attention.
Earlier in the week, Jones sent a cease and desist letter to Waikato University academic Leonie Pihama over her use of the word “racist” to describe him in a tweet.
Rather than apologise as requested, Pihama penned a post on her personal blog and tweeted out the full letter to her followers.
This sparked an immediate response from the broader Twitter community, which proceeded to taunt Jones with the description used by Pihama and called on him to send out more cease and desist notices.
It was another demonstration of the “Streisand effect”, named after Barbra Streisand’s 2003 bid to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, which had the opposite result to the one she hoped for.