The importance of the image of politicians in winning votes

If in a rare moment of giving in to image advisors, François Mitterrand softened his expression by filing his canines, in 1982 the young and inexperienced Felipe González, then 40 years old, set out to paint canines in search of an aura of experience and maturity that stood up to his main opponent, Fraga Iribarne, a 60-year-old representative of the Spanish right, in a clash that would lead the socialist to an absolute majority. We return to the same thing: “If politicians can be products, and they always are during election times, it is advisable to eliminate plastic”, reminds Calafate, to conclude: “Between a politician with dyed hair to display an aura of youth and white hair natural, people prefer the second in subliminal terms.”

At 51 years old, Luís Montenegro gained raven-wing black hair that was unknown to him, probably as a result of knowing himself in a direct dispute with an opponent, Pedro Nuno Santos, five years younger. Age counts according to convenience and circumstances.

André Ventura, perhaps the leader with the most visible natural changes, is less concerned about an increasingly mixed head of hair.

“It’s true, just go back to 2016 and you can clearly see the difference”, agrees Patrícia Carvalho, right-hand man of Chega’s leader, who is just 41 years old. “The personal image is André’s responsibility. He chooses the ties and the suits. The rallies, networks, billboards, all communication is done within the party, with the party’s media. We do not have external consultancy.”

João Gomes de Almeida, who advised Ventura on the local and European campaigns, justifies “aging” with the candidate’s path. “It hasn’t stopped for years. Of the current leaders, he was the one who submitted the vote most times – local, European, presidential, two legislative, regional. In between, he founded a party for whose leadership he ran six times.”

On the contrary, Mariana Mortágua, despite being highly trained in television debate, will contest her first election on March 10 as coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda. Without the help of image consultants, she guarantees the party. João Gomes de Almeida continues: “It has a good image on the billboards. The speech exudes confidence. But there’s a problem with empathy – it generates little.” For the consultant “we could buy her a car, but we didn’t want her as a house visitor”.

Rui Calafate discovers a more smiling Mariana: “She was famous for her fierce and aggressive attitude towards a series of businesspeople, but in this campaign she chose (and rightly so) to smile more, even to moderate her tone, not losing the essence with the tonic accent on its first billboard – “Don’t give them rest” -, something that fits well with the combative image that the Portuguese recognize”.