About that controversial cover of “M, le magazine du Monde”
In communication theory, noise refers to anything that might distort the message, like a bad connection, prejudices, misconceptions…
M, le magazine du Monde is a weekly magazine published by Le Monde, a reputable French newspaper. Its 29 December 2018 cover caused a stir on social media. The cover presents a side profile of French President Emmanuel Macron, jaw clenched and a stern look in his eyes. He is set on a white and red geometrical background. His costume represents the Champs-Élysées packed with people brandishing French flags and taking pictures. The cover title is barely legible. A literal translation could be: “From his inauguration to the “yellow vests”, the Macron presidency plays out on the Champs-Élysées.”
So, what is all the fuss about? Well, for many people in France – and other countries – the association of this exact side profile and a crowd of people raising one arm in the air is an obvious call back to Hitler’s ascent to power. Especially with the red, black and white colour scheme. Just look at the comparison tweet that is embedded in the article linked above. The image on the right is very recent: it is a 2017 Lincoln Agnew illustration for Harper’s magazine. But French readers will recognise each of its components from experience or from seeing them over and over again in school History books and documentaries.
To be fair, some on social media also identified a call back to communist propaganda with the use of the Russian constructivist imagery and colour scheme. Le Monde apologized, confirming the Russian constructivist angle of the cover.
What about the article then? Well, nobody really talked about the substance of the article on social media or elsewhere. I wanted to find out but New Year’s celebrations got in the way and the cover is what stayed with me. I suspect I might not be the only one.
Is the cover consistent with the article? You can read it if you have a subscription to Le Monde. In brief, the article details the important role that the Champs-Élysées avenue has played in Macron’s own ascent to power: his ties to the finance world, his inauguration parade, the Bastille Day parade that drew envy from Trump and was followed by the resignation of the Chief of the Defense staff, a police officer dying in a terrorist attack, the Les Bleus bus driving through the crowd after their 2018 Word Cup win, and the now famous “yellow vest” protests.
So, the article is somehow consistent with the cover title, but it is much more nuanced than the imagery and it can lead to various interpretations. Nevertheless, one can hardly imagine that the designers of this cover did not predict the controversy, the noise that it would create. Was the noise – or buzz – intentional? How many upset people bothered to read the article?
With the Web 2.0, anybody can communicate anything, and it is hard to stand out only on the merits of your message. Communicators need strategies to be heard: How should we package the message? Are all message components consistent? When should we broadcast our message? Should we look out for bad buzz or should we live by Oscar Wilde’s philosophy: “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
The Budding Techcomm Blogger 