Sex will always sell, but death metal and the stars?
POLITICIANS have often tried to harness the power of television.
Blonde bombshell La Cicciolina sent shock waves through Italian politics when she was elected as an MP for the Radical Party in 1987.
The Hungarian-born porn star and pop singer, real name Ilona Staller, grabbed the nation’s attention by delivering a TV campaign address with one breast exposed. While an MP, she continued to make sex films and infamously offered, before the start of the Gulf War, to sleep with Saddam Hussein in return for peace.
In 1992, millions of viewers watched in astonishment as the meditation-endorsing Natural Law Party aired its first UK party political broadcast.
The film depicted yogic flying, in which cross-legged participants bounced across mats, and insisted that it was a panacea for society’s evils.
Despite securing the support of former Beatle George Harrison, the mystical movement failed to take off.
In 2011, Polish politician Jedrzej Wijas recorded a campaign video backed by death metal musicians.
The film concluded with the headbanging rockers screaming: ‘Secular government, dignified life, freedom, vote wisely.’
Also in that year, the Pirate Party of New Zealand – which campaigns against copyright laws – was awarded £20,000 of public funding to raise the skull and crossbones in a prime time political broadcast.
Back in 2009, before Nigel Farage’s meteoric rise, astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore was Ukip’s star turn.
The eccentric Sky at Night host was filmed eating a scone outside a thatched cottage while sporting a monocle and Union Flag tie before declaring: ‘Let’s put Britain back on track.’