Tea Party Bombs with Billboard Blasting Obama

So, a Tea Party group in Iowa put up a billboard comparing President Obama to Hitler and Lenin (not John Lennon, the one who had no hit records) and then took the billboard down after getting bombarded with criticism for trying to make such an inflammatory and idiotic connection.

The wording under the three photos on the original sign read: "Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive." Associated Press correspondent Luke Meredith reported that the local group took the billboard down after the national group criticized the message and asked the locals to remove it.

The Iowa Tea Partiers apologized, sort of, and called the billboard a bad decision that reflected poorly on their organization. But the damage was done, don’t you think?

The NAACP called on Tea Party members to "repudiate the racist element and activities within the Tea Party". Is that the type of message the organization is trying to send?

And with the message already out there, already reported on by media, did the group actually achieve its communication goal? The answer: Probably so.

I’m not a Tea Party member (I’m more of a coffee person). I wasn’t invited to the initial advertising campaign planning session but it seems this type of well-planned and harshly worded message bomb was constructed, detonated, and did the job message that senders intended.

The co-founder of the North Iowa Tea Party admitted the Hitler image was not a positive reflection of their members. Well, that’s good to know. But did the billboard get put up with a wink and a nod from the top Tea Partiers, followed by an exaggerated public chastising just to look better in the eyes of the general public? Hopefully not but we might never know for sure.

As any good communication professional knows, whether we are talking about handling messaging for a corporation, a nonprofit, or a political party, it has to be consistent in order for that organization to maintain legitimacy with all stakeholders, both internal and external.

Any group that hopes to keep a good name cannot let horrible, incendiary messages like the Hitler/Lenin mortar get launched. It’s a shot in the collective foot for the organization. Said more bluntly: Stupid move guys!

Mixed messaging can damage any organization. Especially if that messaging is highly volatile, divisive in nature and in every respect inaccurate.