Yes, Minister, less is more

 Today, some pungent advice to the Irish Health Minister from a well-known communications expert: halve your media appearances.

 A nation chuckled – the politician in question is in a first-time ministry, obviously keen as mustard to make his mark, but during the Covid nightmare has made some increasingly bizarre interventions, including last week’s when he suggested that the tortured vaccine rollout in Ireland be turned on its head by prioritizing the 30s age group. This reversed the previous wisdom that older age cohorts should get the vaccines first.

Ah dear. The minister was “spoken to” by the Taoiseach, our prime minister. “Ah, Stephen, could I see you in my office for a few minutes?” 

 

Setting aside the political embarrassment, the advice to be less visible brought up one of the conundrums of the online-all-the-time era: when do people get sick of you? Kim Kardashian’s legions of fans seem to want her all the time. I learnt yesterday that even the way she arranges her cookie jar [that is not a euphemism] is of interest. But I wonder whatever happened to over-exposure. This term has not been heard in a while, so it was refreshing to find it in the advice given to Minister Donnelly. 

 

Economics has long taught of supply and demand, and that demand will go up when supply is in peril, or is perceived to have rarity value. Hence diamonds, or Meghan Markle … hmm, maybe not MM. Messi?

Remember Prince, God rest his purple soul. He practically never gave interviews, which made him all the more fascinating, especially as he had such amazing talent. But he was shy, or so it seemed. Likewise Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, who eschewed media stardom to live a quiet academic life after his astonishing feat in 1969. 

 

I’m sure we can all think of some personality we were once fascinated with, loved to see them on the screen, wanted to know all about them … and then … then … every time you looked, there they were, hosting this, appearing on that, writing a novel, getting a column in a newspaper, until you were forced to cry “Arentcha sick of so-and-so”. A little of what we fancy does us good, but a torrent of it will sweep all interest away.

 

This is connected with the “always-on” atmosphere of much of life, and work, unfortunately, that has led to a code of practice in Ireland stating that employees do not have to respond to work emails out of working hours. Other countries such as France have explored similar initiatives.

 

We do not want to be always on. And we don’t want to be seeing “celebrities” including politicians at all hours of day and night. As the mammies used to tell us, it’s better to conceal than to reveal.