Branding the Bailout
October 7, 2008 at 12:37 PM |
1 comment
Here’s a story I wrote for Time.com about one reason why American voters did not back a bailout with the same fervor as American leaders. Putting aside the more important (and much harder) question of whether the bailout was a good idea, this is a case study in how we perceive risk.
Note to European politicians: If you want people to support a dubious legislative bailout, you have to get very specific and personal with the public.
michael said on October 07, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Yes, the marketing was REALLY bad, but I think there’s another reason calls were generally against the bailout: Most people who were for it had no reason to call, because it looked like a done deal. The President and all Party leaders were for it, so there was no reason to think it WOULDN’T pass. Therefore, no reason for pro-bailout folks to bother calling their Congress-people.