The image of a politician is considered one of the most important components of political advertising. This element has an unconditional impact on the effectiveness of the candidate’s impact on the audience.
The formation of the image of a successful politician depends mainly on understanding and knowledge of the moods, attitudes and requirements of current or future followers. It is important in this matter to be able to show that the figure fully meets all the needs of the audience.
One of the most effective strategies is to gain public confidence by demonstrating a politician’s closeness to the people. He shows that he has the same problems and concerns as the masses of people. In the sphere of politics, excessive originality in creating an image, formulating programs and other things is inappropriate and in many cases unacceptable, as it can repulse a large part of the audience.
Today, a simple voter is deprived of direct contact with a politician. The people evaluate the figures as they are represented by the media. An image in politics is created through several mechanisms. One of them is personality positioning. The construction of a political image is carried out by specialist image makers.
The image with which the activist performs his actions during the election campaign and which should bring him victory is called strategic. Such an image of a politician must meet certain mandatory criteria.
First of all, the strategic image of the leader is considered strictly determined. In other words, the character of the image should be formed in accordance with the level of education and the cultural specificity of the people, the economic situation, and other features of the electoral territory.
The strategic image is determined by time. Thus, the previously used image of a politician, even successful, does not guarantee success in upcoming campaigns. This is due to the constant change in the needs of voters, the situation in the state.
Along with this, much attention should be paid to situational factors - sudden changes in the state or political sphere. In other words, with a sharp change in the audience’s values, the actor should be able to change (or create the appearance of change) his preferences in order to best meet the needs of the public.
The image of a politician is divided into objective (real impression), subjective (the figure of the actor about himself), modeled (the result of the team of specialists working on the image), ideal (most appropriate for the audience).
The image of a figure is complex of appearance (physique, height, weight, etc.), biography, business and moral qualities, manner of communication, behavior, speaking skills, political affiliation.
According to experts, a particular problem has always been in shaping the image of a woman politician. The most common creation option was the "imperious style." In order to emphasize the intellectual and business qualities of their clients, image makers recommend using a combination of dark blue or gray jackets and skirts with refreshing blouses in the wardrobe.
A more “strong” image can be achieved through the use of bright colors in a suit. For example, red was Nancy Reagan's favorite color .
One of the modifications of the “imperious style” was used by image makers when creating the image of Margaret Thatcher. The consultants recommended that she give preference to dark suits with slung shoulders. All the elements in her image corresponded to a self-confident woman at the top of power. It should be noted that this image was most attractive to a large part of the middle class public.
Often, certain preferences in presidential families gave rise to a new fashion. So, at one time, many women, imitating Jacqueline Kennedy, wore caps, made hairstyles "a la Jackie."