Burberry: whose campaign is it anyway?

The long-running battle to save 300 jobs in Burberry's Rhondda factory has a rather unnecessary sub-plot - a struggle between Labour and Plaid Cymru to take the reins of the campaign.

The Keep Burberry British website is a Labour dominated affair, although that's not made explicit. It becomes obvious, however, in the contest for celebrity endorsement which is running between the two parties. Labour's most recent catches are Max Boyce and that strange looking bloke from BBC Wales. They are somewhat overshadowed by Plaid's latest messages of support from world-famous Welsh speakers Bryn Terfel and Rhys Ifans. This was the work of Plaid MEP Jill Evans, but the campaign website gives no indication of this.

It's as if the parties are running two separate campaigns. Plaid Cymru aren't hosting a special issue website for this, but if they were I'm sure they wouldn't be acknowledging Labour efforts either.

If there's a political consensus in favour of saving Burberry, surely it's better to emphasise that, rather than allow party politics to interfere.

Caption: You won't see this picture on the Keep Burberry British website

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:31 pm,

6 Comments:

At 10:31 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Labour Party is supporting the GMB campaign, and working with it, not trying to run a campaign of its own.

 
At 11:33 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would this be the same GMB who affiliate to the Labour Party? Hardly a politically independent organisation, then...

 
At 12:17 am, Blogger Blamerbell said...

"Would this be the same GMB who affiliate to the Labour Party?"

Yes!

 
At 8:56 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Err... I think you both need to brush up on your employment law.

Unions always lead these campaigns. The company is required by law to embark on a 90 period of consult with the the recognised trade union(s).

If Plaid were willing to work with the union, there would be one campaign.

To be fair to Andrews he's played a blinder on this one, you can tell he's a pro. Notice all the national media coverage all to do with him.

Plaid ballsed up on Bryn Terfel, if they had gone through the union instead of absurdely trying to claim credit for his support, then maybe they would have got wider coverage.

 
At 9:31 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both morally and in terms of effectiveness, there should only be one centrally-organised campaign in which everyone who participates would get the kudos for the work they put in.

But as the union already funds one political party, it is difficult to imagine a fair or equal division of credit in this situation.

In terms of exposure, Plaid would be brought in for a group photo to show all-party support for the campaign, then sidelined in favour of the local AM and MPs.

Leighton Andrews being the local, incumbent AM is the reason that he's getting the press exposure - Andrews might be more media-savvy than most, but that's still the reason.

 
At 2:23 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought the celebrity endorsements started with Leighton Andrews getting Ioan Gruffudd - the global face of Burberry - on board?

 

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