Is Mr Mugabe a marketing whizz as well as election "master"?

I came across a copy of one of Mr Mugabe's press ads for the recent "election" in Zimbabwe on a great blog I read called Brand DNA that I just had to refer to and repeat here.

Although one can argue a lot with Mr Mugabe's approach to democracy and elections, this ad shows that he does understand one of the easiest and most effective marketing and communication approaches! And that is to have an "enemy" to compare yourself against. It is an old technique that still works today, even if your enemy is your old product or an existing practice you are trying to change (like getting people to stop using soap and use your bath foam or shower gel). It works even better if your "enemy" is less likely to counter your claims of course.

Mr Mugabe uses Britain and its colonial past as the enemy in all his communication. Even though Britain has not actually been involved in the country in reality since 1980 independence.

Of course, it is not really likely that this ad really drove the "results" of the election - but even if the man does not have a grasp on the full principles of democracy, he does have some grip on marketing and communication principles?