Please Advise! Is Kevin Falcon Toast?

[Editor’s note: Steve Burgess is an accredited spin doctor with a PhD in Centrifugal Rhetoric from the University of SASE, situated on the lovely campus of PO Box 7650, Cayman Islands. In this space he dispenses PR advice to politicians, the rich and famous, the troubled and well-heeled, the wealthy and gullible.]

Dear Dr. Steve,

Two B.C. byelections were held Saturday, in Langford-Juan de Fuca and Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. The NDP held both seats comfortably. But the real story was the relative collapse of the BC United vote — Elena Lawson finished fourth in Langford-Juan de Fuca, behind the BC Conservatives and the Green Party, winning only 8.6 per cent support. In Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, BC United's Jackie Lee pulled in a whopping 13.7 per cent.

Is this trouble for Kevin Falcon?

Signed,

The Count

Dear Count,

Now, let's be fair — this was not a collapse of the BC United vote. There never was a BC United vote. The Party Formerly Known as the BC Liberals was making its initial appearance on the ballot as the rechristened BCUP.

As christenings go, this one was akin to the ship sinking or the baby drowning. Kevin Falcon's rebrand from BC Liberals to BC United appears to be going as well as that time Burger King tried selling low-calorie french fries.

Falcon said it was all to be expected. “We knew we only changed our name 10 weeks ago and that we were going to pay a price for that, and we did, and that’s not altogether surprising,” Falcon said.

Still, other recent rebrandings have certainly gone more smoothly. Maybe Falcon should have merged with the Saudis. That's always lucrative.

It's interesting that this brand trouble comes as U.S. voters are grappling with the so-called “No Labels" movement, a ratfucking enterprise that is paradoxically proving just how important labels can be in politics.

Names do matter, it turns out. Not everyone is a political junkie paying close attention to current events — many voters step into the booth like they walk down the grocery aisle, looking for their usual. That is at least one part of the vile formula that continues to power Donald Trump — he leads one of the two established U.S. political brands. People who decide they don't like the Democrats may simply switch to the other team, disregarding the fact that the other team is now essentially a stack of rabid weasels wearing human clothes. The Republicans today are like Franz Kafka's Gregor Samsa — he was still called Gregor Samsa, even after he turned into a cockroach.

Now that the BC Liberals have dropped their nationally known brand, the BC Conservatives are right there with an old-school logo. And sure enough the BC Conservatives pulled 20 per cent in Langford-Juan de Fuca, good for second place. Pizza Hut executives must dream of the day Domino's will rebrand as Flat Circle Foods Inc., and the provincial Conservatives must be feeling similarly optimistic about their fortunes. The party still faces challenges however, such as all the things their candidates say and do. That stuff can be a problem.

Falcon says the new party name just hasn't caught on yet. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure people understand the new BC United,” he said, “who we are, what we stand for, and that was reflected in the results.”

But isn’t that just the optimistic spin? Falcon says it's a matter of brand unfamiliarity. What if it isn’t? Changing the name gives the BC United leader plausible deniability. Maybe people remember the party all too well. Maybe they were rejecting the product.

At any rate, Premier David Eby is not taking the bait. With BC United's failed market test to spur him, a snap provincial election would have been tempting. But the NDP leader says no — next year’s scheduled election date will remain in effect.

That could give Falcon some breathing space to remind voters of just what BC United is all about and the policies his party represents.

And if that doesn't work? Maybe a free car giveaway. Offer two-for-one MLA coupons. Hey, here's an idea — how about a new name?