The Politics Of Image
Talking about marketing yourself like an ancient Egyptian can be fun, but it’s only the foundation of the egocentric story of personal branding. Now it’s time to cool down the hot air with a little diplomacy.
Image politics is a real thing. Promoting personal interests gets tricky; you have a better chance when making other people’s interests part of your plan. Octavian, better known as Caesar Augustus, knew this and used it to build the foundation of his victory over Marc Anthony. He slowly seeped in, eventually gaining nearly the entire Roman army with his manipulation of a mental image. “Marc Anthony is behaving like a foreign king, not a Roman!” he started. Pretty soon, he added Cleopatra’s “beguiling witchcraft and loose, insolent behavior” to the menu. He knew most Roman men were conservative, and Roman women—especially those of a more elite status, were expected to stay at home and refrain from politics. This was in direct conflict with the culture of ancient Egypt, where women and men enjoyed a more equal balance of power. The idea of a female “queen” was flat out unethical to this crowd. This opposing view left the door wide open for his misleading public persuasion.
Fast forward to the first printing houses. In the early days of publishing, portraits of authors became the central feature of publishers’ self-presentation and product placement efforts. They set up planned photos or hand drawn portraits, portraying authors in a regal manner in order to give the publications real weight.
And then there’s the new issue in the age of very freakin’ fast technology that not everyone has started considering yet. In the quest to build a memorable public image, we not only have to think of branding. In the wake of Covid’s lockdowns, many more people are online more often. We’ve begun a new social age. We’re igniting opinions in cyberspace, and they’re catching on like wildfires. Our new, digital social norms are burning through the globe at light speed.
This means all the contradictory things we’re taught in educational institutions, home cultures and traditional environments have now come up against the biggest collective of minds. Emotions, opinions, misinformation and science, all at once. It’s a digital Wild West, and this has to be considered when building your new personal image. Social norms are changing—fast. You can lose your allies on a dime.
But being diplomatic doesn’t mean being a pushover. And it requires something different than going on the defense when you run into obstinance. Public image and branding is evolutionary; you keep moving forward, maintaining your core values and imagery. We can all get away with being a little bit of a renegade, but everything runs better with balance. Diplomacy is an art that requires tact and mutual respect. To do that, we have to consider a lot of other things; analyzing situations that come up, changes in cultural atmospheres, economic fluctuations, and sometimes, even adapting our image to a changing world while keeping our core values in check. Yes, it’s complicated. But if you do it right, you’ll keep the allies that matter. Key phrase:
the allies that matter.
There are going to be people who try to bruise—or all out destroy—your reputation. It comes with the whole “collective internet” thing. It’s less expensive to use social media than to rent space in magazines, so most of us post photos and updates. Even the most wholesome, positive human will get whipped around by somebody.
On that note, if you do run into someone who cannot be reasoned with; someone who goes through the damaging, active motions of really wreaking havoc on your reputation or career, a method other than diplomacy may apply. That’s another article for another day. If this is an interesting subject to you, please make it known and I’ll try to address gaslighting in another issue.
