As communicators, we know the impact that one sentence, phrase or scream can have in defining an election or an issue. Examples include Howard Dean in the U.S. – “the scream heard around the world”; López Obrador in Mexico, when he told President Fox to shut up in a very derogatory matter: ’callate chachalaca,’ which some believe cost him many votes; former Virgina Senator’s infamous use of the word ’macaca’; and now, the King of Spain. This past Sunday, Al Punto on Univision dedicated a significant amount of time to the incident that led the President of Spain to tell Venezuela’s Chavez to shut up. There are YouTube videos dedicated to this exchange, and a new ring tone that is a hit in Spain. Rissig Licha has a number of postings about this incident in his Spanish-language blog if you want to see more of a political analysis.
My point here is how in today’s world, more than ever, you have to be very careful in what and how you say it, especially as you look at campaigns and politicians. Keep in mind YouTube wasn’t around in 2004. At the end of the day, the question is: will this incident help Chavez on the December 2nd referendum that would make a number of changes to the constitution, including eliminating presidential term limits? We’ll have to wait and see. I do know, thanks to new media, we’ll continue to hear the King’s words for some time.
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