EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
A scriptwriter from Slavi Trifonov's team tore up a photo of President Rosen Plevneliev on national airwaves, causing a media storm that has been going on for the 4th day now. The overall response and comments are negative for the showman, with even the lazy and sluggish SEM taking matters into its own hands and sending a letter to bTV. bTV itself sharply distanced itself from the actions in the show, although it has not taken any other action.
The assessments that Trifonov is a "dumb", "idiot", "marginal", "simpleton", "immoral", etc., however, are too superficial and premature. In fact, the whole case so far has been playing out completely according to the showman's script and entirely in his favor. Slavi made his move, set a trap and the "smart" ones jumped into it with both feet.
To argue this conclusion, we must make two assumptions: (1) Trifonov and his team have set a course towards entering politics and (2) they are already actively working in this direction. If this is the case, then Slavi Trifonov must go through a framework of several successful steps, into which tearing down Plevneliev's photo fits perfectly:
To be noticed: the political scene in Bulgaria is overcrowded, and for a new political project to be successful, it must be clearly noticed and recognized by voters as a valid alternative. Although Slavi's Show airs daily shortly after prime time (i.e., it has more than enough media influence), the show itself is not in a purely political genre and the people on it are not perceived as “serious” political players. To be noticed and recognized as such, Trifonov's team must enter the media stream as such – i.e., with political actions and messages. Cutting Plevneliev's photo ensured both things – 100% political actions with a huge media response. Keep in mind that in the 21st century, it is almost impossible to hold the public's attention for more than two days, and he did it for 4.
To be a strong leader: almost always and everywhere, voters look for a single quality in their politicians – to be strong leaders. That is, to be categorical, not to back down, to believe that they are always right, not to apologize and to engage in tough battles with many enemies. Cutting down Plevneliev’s photo provides all of this – a categorical political act that has made him many enemies, before whom he will not back down. When submitting the referendum signatures, Borisov also made the key mistake of declaring himself an enemy of Trifonov. People tend to vote for a politician who is a strong leader, even if they do not agree with what he proposes (Bush Jr., Trump, Putin, the examples are countless).
To be extreme: It is a rule of thumb that human psychology remembers extremes. For the average voter, the world is black and white – there are good people, there are bad people. In the middle are some people that no one understands and no one remembers. Cutting off Plevneliev’s photo ensures this – an extreme and uncompromising political act that will be remembered.
Winning audiences one by one: although political success often seems like a huge wave, in fact it is almost always the result of successively winning individual audiences. The cropping of Plevneliev’s photo ensures this – although I consider Plevneliev to be a (very) good President, he is certainly not a strong President. Plevneliev was fooled into uncritically accepting the advice of his Western PR team, which put him in a completely unnatural image for himself – artificial hairstyle, artificial smile, artificial gestures, clothes that are not familiar to him, memorized phrases, etc. All this leaves an impression of falsehood and lies in the voters, smears Plevneliev’s true personality and makes him incapable of projecting strength both in defense and attack. In the end, his rating collapsed to around 30%. That is, 70% of Bulgarians do not like him, with at least 30% of these people hating both Borisov and Plevneliev – a clear audience for Trifonov.
To frame the battle in a way that benefits him: Sun Tzu once said that “Victory generals first win and then go to war, and defeated generals go to war and then try to win.” For a truly successful political project, Trifonov must frame the next elections in a way that benefits him personally and makes the other players reactive. The referendum and the will of the “people” are currently playing the role of such a frame, and it is likely that some of the questions have been deliberately selected to be rationally unfeasible. That is, the referendum will divide society in two – the people who support him are with Trifonov, and those who do not support him are against him and the “people.”
But the real political benefit is not in this, but in the opportunity to brand the opponents of the referendum as enemies and to attract voters who, for one reason or another, do not approve of them. The cutting of Plevneliev's photo ensures this as well - through his (probably legally justified) position against some issues in the referendum, Plevneliev was turned into an enemy of Trifonov and the "people". His photo was cut on air and the Show team has been bashing him for the third day in prime time on national television. All this does not bring so much political positives among the supporters of the referendum, but attracts voters who do not approve of Plevneliev himself. They see in Trifonov a strong leader who is bashing their enemy and to some extent offers an alternative. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend (in this case - a potential leader).
Although not so key, there is another detail that proves how ingenious the marketing move with the photo is. Notice who tore it up – not Slavi, but his scriptwriter. This is not a coincidence at all – Trifonov knows that his image will invariably be put in the shoes of the failed project “Barekov” and he needs to escape from this. Barekov tore it up on air in the newspaper “Trud” and became known as the “newspaper-ripping clown”. If Trifonov had done the same, he would have become known as the “photo-ripping clown”. That is why he did not do it personally. Being on the national air of his show and by his scriptwriter, the torn photo brought him all possible positives, but also avoided the big negative – the parallel with Barekov. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Underestimating Slavi Trifonov as a political player is a huge mistake. The showman is neither a "dumb" nor a "fool". If he is, then the "smart" people must answer the question - why did they jump with both feet into a trap set for them by a "fool" from Uchindol?
