The sober, poorly lit setting and informal staging of Kamala Harris’ highly anticipated first interview raised eyebrows among image expert Jeremy Ghio.
• Also read: Watch the first excerpt from Kamala Harris’ highly anticipated interview
• Also read: Harris to take first major media interview
• Also read: First interview for Kamala Harris: “She’s going to have to outperform,” says an expert
In an interview on the show The Balance Sheethe strongly criticized the choice of the Democratic candidate’s team.
“It’s clearly not a (good) strategic choice to appear smaller than your running mate and less enlightened than the person interviewing you. I don’t understand how this was allowed to happen,” said the public relations director at TACT.
“We tried to present the whole team, with Tim Walz next to Kamala Harris. We want to limit the flattery. (It’s) very sober, she’s in dark gray, she’s next to her running mate, so the team is there. I don’t understand the choice of all that,” he adds.
The latter also highlighted the double standard that exists between women and men in the world of politics.
“All the little messages in politics, even more so when it’s a woman, are important,” says Mr. Ghio.
A candidate’s image is essential to display a certain credibility with the electorate.
“It’s even more important than anything. It’s even more important than what we’re going to hear, in the end, because the first thing people are going to say to a candidate who comes out of an interview is ‘it was nice how you were dressed’ or ‘I wasn’t sure about your jacket,'” explains the expert.
Jeremy Ghio worries that such an interview will draw more public attention to the staging, the setting and Kamala Harris’s clothing than to her words.
“One interview does not make a campaign, but it must not happen again,” he concludes.
To see the full interview with Jeremy Ghio, watch the video above.
