WIDLAK, Ewa

Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy : trespassing borders between politics and show business

 

Almost nothing seemed connected them : Nicolas Sarkozy was the French President issued from a right-wing party ; Carla Bruni was a former top model and a singer, mainly known for her numerous relationships and her attachment to the left’s ideology. When the 15 of November 2007 the French media published their picture on a romantic meeting in Disneyland (Paris, France), the general reaction was stupefaction and belief that this relation was nothing but a marketing action mounted by the President’s spin-doctors looking for a new partner for a freshly divorced President and Carla Bruni herself looking for a recognition in the improbable role of the First Lady. After a quick wedding, they became one of the most famous French couples, creating curiosity, and at the same time some kind of admiration and tough critics.

We can note that Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni  reached to create a common communications’ strategy in which they managed to use their respective popularities to create media buzz and popular interest. They have both evaluated and adapted their images to the complex codes of politics and show business. After losing the Presidential Elections in 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy announced his retirement from politics. However the media interest about the future of the former President who declared re-becoming “a Frenchman among Frenchmen” shows that even after a change of status he will be still present in the French press. At least as a husband of Carla Bruni who announced her return into music.

 

Ewa Widlak is a Ph.D. student in Political Communications at University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.