Political Animals
Using Pets for Campaigns
By Daniel Muniz

With my background in desktop publishing and my profession in technical writing, I have done the layout and design for various types of literature (newsletters, brochures, web sites, etc.) and promotional material (signs, push cards, etc.) for a handful of political campaigns. And every campaign piece I developed had a specific purpose for the message that it conveyed to its intended audience.

However, very subtle background images and the use of certain props that were not at all a central part of the message could still have very powerful subconscious influence. In some ways, if they were done correctly they could take a life of their own to reinforce the political message.

One particular prop that I have often heard mentioned amongst political circles is to use a family pet like a cat or dog in the portrait of the candidate with his or her family. There is just something about having a cute furry animal sitting right beside someone running for office that tugs at the heartstrings.

I have never been involved in the development of anything that used family pets but as a collector of campaign literature and of promotional material from both political parties for all levels of elected office, I have seen quite a number of candidates and office holders who wholeheartedly utilize such an approach.

The overall purpose of having a dog or a cat in a photo-op is to help humanize the person seeking elected office. Politics is a rough and tumble blood sport with a “take no prisoners” type of mentality. But hand-to-hand combat is ugly and it can sour the outward appearance of a politician. So for an individual who already has a reputation for being chilly or dispassionate or even aloof, a dog or a cat can help recreate his or her persona.

And for someone who is a virtual unknown running for office, pets can subconsciously generate a warm caring image especially when he or she is being contrasted to a battle-scarred political veteran.

Perhaps the most famous pets that were exploited solely for political value belong to the Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Bill’s dog Buddy was quite a fixture in the White House and this Labrador garnered widespread attention from the press. In fact, Buddy was Bill’s sole companion for family outings during the darkest days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal when Hillary was obviously not in a very good mood.

So what happened to Buddy after the Clintons left the White House?

He was run over by a car.

Now Hillary Clinton’s cat Socks was perhaps the most famous of all White House pets and sometimes took center stage for certain photo-ops. In fact, Hillary made widespread use of her cat especially when she visited elementary schools and she even expended political capital discussing the virtues of pet ownership.

So what happened to Socks after the Clintons left the White House?

Hillary gave the cat to the president’s personal secretary Betty Currie.

Buddy and Socks made great props and they helped soften the harsh images of Bill and Hillary but these animals were nothing more than tools. They were expendable when they had no more value.

Now this quite a brutal indictment of Bill and Hillary but politics is a brutal occupation in of itself in which you have to exploit anything and everything for a political agenda. But I in no way limit my criticism to the Clintons because politicians from both parties will not hesitate for one moment to utilize any cheap ploy that will help them gain an advantage at the ballot box. There are plenty of Republicans who won’t lose any sleep if their bogus pet gets run over because they were never really pet owners in the first place.

It is just that the press created such huge fanfare over Buddy and Socks during Bill Clinton’s administration that it is rather hypocritical that they are now completely silent when these pets were discarded

From my personal viewpoint, I find the use of family pets in politics to be rather revolting. And like many ordinary people, I had been accustomed to having a pet as a part of the family even when the animal reaches old age. Pets are just not something that you get rid of.

But on the other side of the coin, I am not idealistic enough to hold that as a virtue because too politicians from both parties are nothing more than political animals that will say and do anything to get elected. I am sure that there are some exceptions but I would venture to guess that such people are few and far in between.

Overall, it is incumbent for the investigative voter to look beyond all the fluff and superfluous imagery and examine the real issues. The packaging may look nice (I should know because I created some good ones) but that should not be the deciding factor on deciding who to vote for. Use your own sound judgment and investigate a little bit deeper into what a candidate really stands for and in what he or she believes in.

Any opinions or views expressed herein belong solely to the author and does not represent any employer, organization, political party, governmental agency, or any other entity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owner or its participants.