‘Today Chile thinks about it’s future’ a line repeated throughout the film ‘NO’ by protagonist Rene Saavedra; a creationist for the No campaign in Chile for the upcoming referendum against dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet agreed to the referendum (like most leaders do) because he thought he would win; he had his campaign funded by America (who also funded the 1973 military coup which resulted in his rise to power) and nearly everyone believed that ‘the president is going to win anyway’ because of the high possibility that the entire referendum was rigged.

Though ‘NO’ is set in the late 80’s, it resonates with the modern day and the political campaign strategies shown then are similar to the strategies used today.

The first stage of a political campaign is to create a clear image that the target audience can identify with. In ‘NO’, the No campaign’s image was the word ‘no’ in bold with a rainbow over it to showcast the multiple political views behind the campaign with each separate party having it’s own colour but also to signify better days ahead for the Chilean people. On the other hand, the Yes campaign intended to reinvent the image of Pinochet and so went with the word ‘si’ in bold with a shooting star symbolising good luck and protection which suggests to the Chilean people that if they keep Pinochet in power they will be protected from events similar to the coup which was blamed on members of the No side. Both side’s campaign images were simple and to the point making it easy for members of the Chilean public to resonate and identify with.

In today’s political climate the first stage of a political campaign is similar; with both parties creating their initial images and establishing the main themes of their argument. Like ‘NO’, both parties have simple campaign images that the public can easily identify with. An example of this would be during the Brexit referendum, the Leave campaign’s image was ‘vote leave’ with a poll box with the posters all being red; the colour of the English cross. This was due to the fear that the European parliament was taking over British law and that Britain was being interfered with by the EU. However, the Remain campaign’s image was the word ‘remain’ with the ‘in’ being in the colours of the British flag. These simple images help the public to make an initial decision about what side they want to choose.

The second stage of political campaigns is to present the issues and policies from your side. This can be difficult as both sides want to win so they will showcase and promise anything to aid their campaign. The No campaign initially produced images of the coup and of the Chilean public being injured and killed by the police and Pinochet’s army but was swayed against it by Rene who stated that it ‘doesn’t sell’. Eventually they released some testimonies by victims of torture and relatives of exiled Chileans but mainly broadcast westernised adverts with people dancing and singing with the jingle ‘Chile, la algeria ya viene’ (Chile, joy is on it’s way) which sold to the Chilean public that a vote to remove Pinochet was a vote for a happier future; this caused some inside fighting on the no side as people thought that it wasn’t a real image of Chile saying ‘it looks like a postcard’. This is common as most campaigners want to display the best possible outcome for their audience as that will ensure votes and make a win more likely.

The Yes campaign followed a similar way of advertising by having members of the public singing the song ‘Iorana Presidente’ (hello president) whilst crying and showing their love and admiration for Pinochet. This failed to convince potential voters and so they decided to produce smear campaign tactics (the third stage of a political campaign) to diminish the arguments made by No campaign by making a mockery out of their adverts. The main viewpoint in the Yes campaign was that ‘the president is going to win anyway’ and so they didn’t feel like they had to try as hard to gain votes but they had to diminish the growing popularity of the No campaign. Throughout the campaign, the Yes campaign had growing fears of losing and so Rene and the other No campaigners were threatened by the government by sending threats to Rene about his son and having the authorities attacking the No campaign’s rally.

In modern politics, the presentation of main issues and policies is important for gaining votes. Therefore, like Rene, campaigners will focus on what sells to their target audience; but, like the Yes campaign, campaigners will also partake in smear campaigns to taint the reputation and arguments of the opposing side. Examples of this would be during the 2015 general election where David Cameron and the media corporations owned by members of the Tory party made a mockery of his main opponent Ed Milliband for things as small as eating a bacon sandwich. A further example is Donald Trump using social media to make jabs and false accusations about important topics that had been brought up by his opposition (“if Hilary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think that she can satisfy America”).

Arguments from inside the No campaign like “although we want to win, many don’t want to change anything ” resonates with politics throughout history and in today’s modern political climate; with Brexit campaigners promising to put in £350 million pounds into the NHS funding and swiftly backtracking against that promise when they won. And so like at the end of ‘NO’, with the recent victories of Brexit and Donald Trump; today the world thinks about it’s future.