An ad released a few days ago featuring conservative leader Pierre Poilievre with his family sparked several reactions.
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As the politician seeks to rebuild his image with Canadian voters, he appears with his wife and children in a video where the theme of family is ubiquitous.
The ad comes just days after the split between Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire was announced. According to TACT’s Director of Public Relations Jeremy Keough, this is no coincidence.
“I’m not naive enough to think it’s a coincidence,” the interviewer told LCN.
“She wasted no time playing the united family card after her split from Justin Trudeau,” she added.
Since the beginning of the summer, we feel that Pierre Poilievre is trying to soften his image, says Mr. Ghio.
“We know him, Mr […], an active companion, partisan, very severe with his enemies. He’s very good at speaking to his very conservative electoral base, but on the side of conservative strategists in the last midterms, we may have realized the difficulty of translating good polls into efforts and election results. ” he explains.
By appearing with his family, the conservative leader wants to be seen as a good family man rather than a bad politician.
He relies heavily on his wife’s presence to woo a section of the electorate he doesn’t have.
“Traditionally, the Conservatives have been less popular with the women’s vote,” Jeremy Keough underlines.
Justin Trudeau, for his part, has released two photos that have sparked a lot of reactions in the past few days.
The Prime Minister first shared a photo of her with her son, dressed in pink, before going to see a Barbie movie.
Two days later, she posted a photo with her daughter, where they attended a screening of the film Oppenheimer.
Both of these posts have been criticized for their relevance, along with homophobic comments from netizens attached to the first photo. Some have accused Justin Trudeau of using his children to boost his image.
However, this is not the opinion of TACT’s director of public relations, Jeremy Keough.
“Mr. I think Trudeau is spending time with his family. At one point, the Prime Minister, we forget him sometimes, but he is a man, he is a father. In his statement, he said that his children are his priority.
This kind of publication will help humanize it,” said Mr. Kio believes.
“Because Mr. Trudeau is separated, he will no longer be in his children’s lives, and he will not be with his family at political events,” the expert says.
Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire’s split shouldn’t have too much of a negative impact on Liberal leader Justice Jeremy Keough’s popularity ratings.
“Times have changed. We’re not in the 1950s anymore. There are many people who can identify with Justin Trudeau’s division,” he believes.
And Mr. Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives are the losers in this “war of the families.” Ghio says.
The airing of the conservative ad should have been held later, the expert says.
“This video is well done, this video achieves its goal, but it could have been released in September. Now nobody is paying attention to the story. People are on vacation; we don’t want to see petty politics, we don’t want to see low-levels,” he says.
Watch the video above to watch the full interview.
