Netanyahu's bombastic visual during UN speech sets off a media chain reaction

29 September, 2012

It was an unusual move by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use a visual prop to explain the dangers of Iran's nuclear aspirations in his recent UN speech. His visual bomb has exploded loudly, and political message has been heard far and wide.

DURING HIS UN speech, Netanyahu, not only flashed the visual but also dramatically drew a red line just below a label reading 'final stage' to a bomb with a marker to highlight and stress his view point.

Now, the visual, being dubbed as the "Bibi bomb", illustrated that Iran could be at 90 percent mark along the path of producing sufficient weapons-grade nuclear fuel. Not only did it capture the attention of the audience, the visual has become a matter of media buzz and has also created a 'twitter-titter' never witnessed before.

It is said that Netanyahu is a visually-smart person, and has also indulged in public sketching in the past to drive his view-points home. He is highly skilled at drawing visual symbols and stick figures.

However, in the media his visual explanation has set off a chain reaction of fun-pokes, jokes and digs at the "Bibi bomb" visual. But, the communication gurus and subscribers of visual intelligence see the move of Netanyahu a good example of modern political communication.

Hope, Indian politicians who keep themselves on a 'silent mode' will hone visual skills as a compensation for their lack of skills in public speech - since 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Will it set off a new trend of visual political communication, many wonder?