ABSTRACT
In the early 1970s film The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, Peter Cook plays a manipulative character who ascends to political power as the consummate practitioner of image management. He starts his conquest of Britain by taking over an advertising agency, by falsifying election opinion-polling results and then subtly influencing the coverage of the opposition leader by subversive public relations. Proving that life sometimes imitates art, the emergence of real image politics is well documented in the election literature. Since Theodore White's (1961) revelations about the role of public relations personnel in the Kennedy election, there has been growing documentation that Rimmer's nefarious methods are the norm in contemporary democracies. Kathleen Jamieson (1988) notes that scripting and framing a candidate's television appearances is the central task of election campaign teams. The candidates are mobilised by a swarm of ex-journalists in suits who continue to spin doctor the coverage over drinks long after the cameras stop.
