That’s far enough: Why do far-right political parties want to be called something else? 

The BBC news service recently reported that far-right political parties in France and other countries did not want to be called “far-right.” 

This made me reflect on why political communicators wouldn’t want the mainstream media to call their parties far-right. If being right-wing is OK, why does the term far go too far? 

I have never worked for a political party, so I can’t say what their communications strategists think, but I have some ideas. 

1. It’s politically unpalatable to invite comparisons to far-right European regimes of the 20^th century. Those movements ended up being so hateful that their leaders were criminally prosecuted. Even Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, has stopped praising fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in public. 
2. Right-wing politics is most appealing when it uses the language of “common sense.” Common sense is vague enough that voters can see themselves in the picture painted for them. You want to appeal to as many voters as possible, whether they know anything about economics, immigration policies, or other dense policy matters.  
3. It’s hard to convince people to take a chance on a new party. You don’t want to come across as a fringe movement that won’t go anywhere. 

From a branding perspective, I see how difficult it is to communicate a strong party message while trying to win over a wider audience. Some communicators are rising to the challenge. 

Katya Adler of BBC InDepth says, “Frankly, on hot-button issues like migration, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between the political rhetoric of the far right in Europe and traditional mainstream politicians intentionally sharpening their speeches to try to hold on to voters…One of the inadvertent effects of mainstream politicians aping parties further to their right on migration is that it makes the original anti-immigration parties seem more respectable, acceptable and electable.”

Clearly, the language far-right parties use resonates with many people. They’re also effectively using social media platforms like TikTok. 

Even complaining about the media calling them far-right has benefitted them. The media reports their complaints about the media, and then people like me read about them and write things like this. That’s some wide-reaching earned media! 

I don’t want to disparage people’s beliefs, so I won’t make any arguments about whether one should vote right, left or centre. I will say that far-right political movements have some very skilled PR, communications and social media staff. They are reaching people who might not have voted for them. Their ideas are resonating with a new generation. Still, the mainstream media has a responsibility to label politicians accurately. If a party has a xenophobic, racist or otherwise hateful platform, people need to know that. PR professionals will always want their message to appeal to people, but a slick campaign can’t hide a flawed foundation. If a political party doesn’t want to be labelled as dangerous, it must not share ideas that put people in danger. 

The far right doesn’t want to be known as far-right anymore, and they’re doing a great job of rebranding, but we have to remember that actions still speak louder than carefully curated words.