The 25th of January 2015, the day of the parliamentary elections in Greece, was characterised as a historical turning point for the country after the leftwing radical party SYRIZA swept into power. However, SYRIZA did not manage to gain the full majority in the elections, and finally formed a government with the far-rightwing nationalist party of the “Independent Greeks” (AN.EL). It is the first time in Greece that a leftwing party has won the parliamentary elections and this is considered to be a great victory by the majority of the reporters in Greece.
On the day the new 40-year-old Greek prime minister was sworn in, he launched a new communication strategy which included, among other “novelties”, a new dress code. The rest of the members of the government immediately followed this new dress code that the Prime Minister had just introduced.
The introduction of this new communicative tool immediately fascinated the domestic media, attracted their interest and became the core issue of the news agenda. Suddenly, the journalists’ correspondence, reports and political analysis began to acquire an element of lifestyle reporting, interspersed by enthusiastic comments, thus transforming the new politicians to media celebrities and fashion icons. At this crucial conjecture for the country’s future in the European Union, the image began to acquire more political weight than actual political speech, political programme and political acts.
All of a sudden, a publicity wave overwhelmed the Greeks and the majority of the people forming public opinion became fans of the new “anticonformist,” not fully appropriately behaving politician-celebrities. The news reports on all Greek TV channels started focusing on the politicians’ dress code choices, which renounced the traditional uniform of suit, ties and tucked-in shirts, fascinating reporters and gossip columnists alike and causing an enthusiastic delirium widely evident in Greek public opinion. A new word was even coined to describe women who idolise and are charmed by the new politician-celebrities.
The shirt and the leather coat of the new Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, as well as his shaved head, the feet-apart-hands-in-pockets bouncer’s stance and the easy grin serving to underline the look, climbed to the top of the Greek news agenda. Phrases such as “the George Clooney of Greece”, “Bruce Willis in Die Hard”, “Superman” and many others started to appear in all prime time news bulletins, followed by reports regarding aspects of his personal life. This choice of outfit, as inappropriate and at odds with the context of the official meetings it might be, was discussed over and over again and, more worryingly, glorified by Greek TV and was interpreted as an unconventional presence on the European political scene.
Why did Greek TV, and the media in general, put so much emphasis on the dress code and the “unconventional” attitude of the prime minister, ministers and governmental officials? What is the purpose of such over-reporting of the new political lifestyle? Does the outfit of the members of government signify a kind of “declaration”, especially when they attend European official meetings without following the adequate dress code? Is there a signifier and a signified in the dress code they have adopted?
It is indisputable that Greek TV, as the rest of the media around the world, are attracted to this newly introduced communication policy, which represents a “war” at the level of symbols. It is an unexpected and unprecedented communicative tactic, highly spectacular, very well prepared and structured, which has proven to be extremely effective. Its basic component is a sense of irresistible intimacy, which captivates the viewers and hence raises audience numbers, a fact that the contemporary media are naturally drawn to.
The Greek TV reports focused excessively on these new customs regarding the dress code of the members of government and the body language they use during the official meetings within the context of the European negotiations. As a result, the media brought to the surface a whole debate regarding the new philosophy of appearance and outfit. This philosophy is solidifying thanks to the newly established media ritual which takes a form that diverts the attention to less important issues that should not occupy the news agenda. It can be considered to be the perfect and most effective method for distracting the attention from the sphere of reality. The media system offers the conditions for this excessive obsession with impressive superficial details instead of putting emphasis on the actual political acts.
This media trend of highlighting the external appearance that dominates the Greek public sphere has a double effect: The first effect is the fluidity of all that is perceived. The second effect is the creation of an ideal passive TV viewer, who is attracted by lifestyle gossip as it is easily consumed. According to our contemporary and competitive media system, the communicative phantasmagoria is the “curtain” in front of the real facts. These facts are always taking place in the shadow of the media lights, so as not to become an object of comment and analysis that the passive viewer is not able to consume.
As far as the excessive publicity is concerned, it might be useful to bring to mind the double-faced statue of Reputation of the Ancient Greeks: on the one side, we see the beautiful and attractive and, on the other side, the odious face. What did the Ancient Greeks want to signify with this statue? Probably that reputation could lift a person up to the sky and cause them to be idolised and at the same completely destroy them. This is how excessive publicity functions. And the media are always there, playing their role according to the circumstances, having their financial interest and viewership as their guiding principles.
Katerina Serafeim holds a PhD in Journalism and Mass Media, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and works as a journalist in the Press Office of the Regional Local Government of Central Macedonia,Greece. She can be reached on katseraf@gmail.com.
