A frank smile and multiple shades of green: Anne Hidalgo's campaign poster, which officially announces her candidacy for the municipal elections in Paris this Saturday, carries several messages, some obvious, others much more discreet, than the semiology experts will hasten to decrypt.
RATP green rather than PS pink
Quick report from the communicator Florian Silnick: "There is no identity of militant propaganda, no logo of political party", which "becomes a constant of the municipal". "They even go further: there are not the traditional colors of the communication of the candidates of the left, pink or red", continues the founder of LaFrenchCom who evokes a definite desire to "overcome the divisions".
What strikes the eye is this green, which of course refers to ecology but not only. "There is a shade of green that Parisians know very well because it is reminiscent of the RATP," notes the communicator Philippe Moreau Chevrolet.
“With this familiar color, we are looking for a side of public services, mobility, which is an axis that Anne Hidalgo is working on. RATP has an almost parental relationship with Parisians, it's the mother, something we like to hate. To Anne Hidalgo, it gives a disguised institutional side, a way of saying: I am the institution but I am not under the gold of the Republic ”, analyzes the president of MCBG Conseil.
Hard to read typeface
What may surprise you is that the campaign slogan "Paris in common" occupies a place equal to that of the candidate's name. In general, "the first thing a candidate asks a communicator is to enhance their name," says Florian Silnicki. “There, they took the risk of a typography which harms the legibility of the name of the candidate to highlight the idea of the link, of solidarity between her and the city. "
"Thanks to the color schemes and the font, you can read two messages: Anne Hidalgo in common or Paris in common, " notes Florian Silnicki. “They bet everything on the inextricable interweaving between Paris, the candidate and the movement. "
According to the experts interviewed, the campaign team therefore bet that the candidate was sufficiently known and identified. But, observes Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, "for the heads of lists in the boroughs, not all known at the local level", this lack of readability "remains a little more disabling, especially as the green risks being assimilated to an application Europe-Ecology-The Greens ”.
Anne Hidalgo: "I am a candidate for a new mandate as mayor of Paris"
"Loyalty" rather than "conquest"
For Florian Silnicki, the poster "perfectly illustrates the difference between electoral marketing of conquest and marketing of loyalty": "Here we are clearly on loyalty, we want to highlight that the candidate embodies the city rather than the future of the city. "
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
"It does not give direction for the future, it is not very programmatic, it is not very ambitious too", abounds Philippe Moreau Chevrolet. “It is intended to be unifying, soothing, geared towards the public, or serving the public. It's pretty much chosen for her. Hidalgo does not need to go on a conquest, it makes her rather nice. Despite its shortcomings, the poster is rather warm, ”he adds.
“It is not overwhelming. There is a kind of horizontality. We are not in authority but in proximity ”, continues the co-founder of MCBG Conseil. “As the whole campaign revolves around it, in negative, that no other candidate has really stood out, she has no interest in adding too much. "
(Almost) anti-Hidalgo 2014
The poster of 2020 takes in any case the opposite of that of the previous campaign of Anne Hidalgo which had been much criticized. “The 2014 poster had gone around the web with a controversy and taunts around the excessive photoshoping of the candidate. They obviously learned all the lessons. Florian Silnicki notes.
According to him, "Anne Hidalgo undoubtedly appears more true, more authentic, more natural, at a time when suspicions of lack of naturalness or staging are basically the worst, studies tell us. opinions on voters. "
And Florian Silnicki to point out a detail that will surely have escaped most: “She wears the same jewel around her neck as in 2014, as if to emphasize, without having to say it, the constancy of the candidate, her potential authenticity. In the electoral posters, insists the specialist in communications, nothing is left to chance.