Behind the scenes of a billion dollar marketing campaign.
How they UK's middle class have been silenced, PLUS script to wake them up at the end!
They’re manufacturing silence through fear. We know that because they’ve openly flaunted a $100+ million marketing budget… and that’s just this year. Like any good campaign, it’s got to be targeted, accurate, and consistent.
So let’s look at who they’re targeting to keep the genocide marketing machine running.
Important context
I’ve spent years profiling audiences for major campaigns. From Lidl and Sainsbury’s Ramadan ads to COVID messaging aimed at ‘non-white British’ groups. I know how action (and inaction) gets manufactured because I’ve manufactured it.
We’re going to role play. This is what I’d present to you if you were my client and I was the communication strategist you hired to keep the UK’s middle class quiet.
Your brief is probably:
‘For the UK:
Which groups could cause the most damage if they mobilised?
Which groups can we ignore?
Which words will silence them?
Where should those words be placed?
First, let’s think about who we need to speak to.
Who is staying silent?
Those who have most to lose if they go against current status quo.
Those who are completely disengaged/ disenchanted by the status quo.
But who are these people?
Since money reflects who benefits from the system, let’s start there. The UK Census splits people by income, job type, and location.
TRANSLATION: Just over half of the England and Wales population have spending money, just under half don’t. So it’s a 50/50 split so far.
Census 2021, England:
56.2% ABC1*= people with extra spending power.
43.8% C2DE = people with LESS spending power.
Wales is similar:
52.5% ABC1 = people with extra spending power.
47.5% C2DE = people with LESS spending power.
For simplicity, let’s assume Scotland + NI tracks roughly the same.
(Note: these ABC1/C2DE labels are crude tools marketers use to segment audiences. They’re gross, blunt, but illustrative.)
So which 50% do we focus on?
The ones with money. Always the ones with money.
If this group mobilises, they can shift entire markets: what companies do, who trades with who, what gets airtime - across TV, Radio, probably socials as well, and what ends up on shelves. Their boycotts would bite us. We cannot withstand these punches. So we’ll have to sedate them.
✅ Which groups could cause the most damage if they mobilised?
The affluent middle class.
In comparison our C2DE group has little capital. Their boycotts could make an impact, but they’d have less impact on trade. Keeping them disengaged is enough. No need to spend too much money or energy on them.
That means I don’t invest too much time or money here.
✅ Which groups can we ignore.
The “less affluent”.
Now, to the powerful silent middle class.
Who’s in our 50%?
Equal split of men and women who’ve spent a decade or more climbing into secure, well-paid roles.
But mostly White folk.
People who identified in the “White: Irish” ethnic group category were the most likely to be classed as AB grade
Interestingly, the 2nd most affluent group is White + Asian mixed. a smaller group, but influential if activated.
Anyhow. In short: the UK’s middle-class, mostly White, professionals. They benefit most from the system. They’ve spent the last decade+ building within the system, therefore, they fear losing what they’ve built.
FOR US, this means one message:
Oppose us, and you risk your status, your wealth, your affluence.
The higher their status, the more they’ve tied their identity to their job and wealth and the more they fear losing it. Fear drives behaviour.
So our messaging should target their losses. If they believe speaking out risks everything they’ve spent decades building, they’ll stay quiet.
That brings us a two-tiered plan.
Tier one: Fear of loss. Tier two: Loss of hope
Tier one: Make them fear the loss of what they’ve accumulated.
Tier two (back up): Make them feel that even if they gave that up, it’s a lost hope anyways.
Fear a. Lose your job
Circulate stories of public figures accused of antisemitism. Do it across sectors and professions. Mention “anti-semitism” alongside “Israel” until they fear saying anything. . Even if there is minimal truth to the claims, repeating them will make them true enough.
Make it known across the Public Sector (the sector controlled by the state. The same state that is funding the genocide) that aligning yourself with the opposition will cost you. Share as a political or religious story. Ignore the hypocrisy of previously been “Standing with Ukraine”.
WORD TO USE: ANTISEMITIC - APOLITICAL / NON-BAISED
Fear b. Lose your social status
Just straight up criminalise protest and any organisation that has Palestine in the title. Get them arrested.
“Palestine Action has been proscribed since 5 July, making it a criminal offence to show support for the organisation,” - Sky News.
Make sure that that there are strong social consequences for being on the side of the Palestinians. We know our audience avoids “being in trouble” with the state. Headlines must link protest to arrest to trigger shame and fear of consequences.
WORDS TO USE: CRIMINAL + Palestine - ARRESTED - CHARGED - DETAINED
Fear c. Lose your sense of self
Redefine resistance as Terrorism. Align protestors with the West’s ultimate boogeyman. If opposing genocide = terrorism, people won’t even let themselves think it..
WORD TO USE: Label any protest as TERROR
NOTE: Objectively, this starts with hypocrisy, then descends into nonsensicalness. But we’re not riding off sense. We’re going off of feels.
Once fear is planted, hopelessness cements silence.
✅ Which words will silence them?
Hopelessness:
I could actually do this through omission of any impact of the protests or boycotts.
Do not mention the legal aid + informed push back to authorities in defence of those who are receiving speaking up. e.g. The UN’s human rights chief. Defending the protestors and Palestine Action. And saying what the UK is doing is “Outside of international law”.
Snippet at the end of a BBC article… with a lil quote from the UN’s Human Right’s chief… Isn’t that headline worthy? UN Chief says ban places UK outside of international law. Do not mention the material impact of the boycotts
In fact, do not mention the word boycott AT ALL! Unless it’s to discredit one of the most effective collective protest tools.
Starve people of victories so they perceive speaking to be pointless.
So now what?
Repeat those words; antisemitic, apolitical, criminal, terror, you know the ones. Repeat them cross every outlet the affluent consume. Papers, TV, LinkedIn feeds. Saturate the air until the only association they have with protest is danger, shame, or futility.
The proof is already visible, you’ve seen it, and now you’ve got the words to explain it. We know the outcomes of their work in our everyday.
Watch one of my favourite videos of the year where you can hear one arrested protestor say: “I’m retired, so I’m not scared of being arrested. I won’t lose a job over it… We are actually safer than the youngsters.”
Recognise these words?
That’s the narrative you’ve been fed on repeat. If you’ve noticed it everywhere, that’s because they want you to.
So how do we stop it?
Speak to their ego. Tell them silence was the thing needed from them. Tell them breaking it makes them dangerous, courageous, and impossible to ignore.
Remind them: “You’ve beaten a billion-dollar marketing campaign.”
Full script for auditions: (said by someone who the audience can visually relate to).
“We are the sleeping dragon. And if you’re listening to me, it means that you too, have beaten the billion dollar marketing campaign.”
Brilliant article Jzk, and fantastically explained. We need things like this for our children so they grow up without blinkers!
You are my favorite found on TikTok since the beginning of the genocide