A trial balloon, or kite-flying (used in the UK and elsewhere), is information sent out to the media in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It can be used by companies sending out press releases to judge reaction by customers, or it can be used by politicians who deliberately
leak information on a policy change under consideration. The term is of French origin. Trial balloon translates French ''ballon d'essai'', a small balloon sent up immediately before a manned ascent to determine the direction and tendency of winds in the upper air, though its earliest use in English is figurative.
United States
In politics, trial balloons often take the form of an intentional
news "leak" to assess public opinion. An example was when the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported in mid-June 2012 that Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
and his staff were deliberating on a plan to restrict
hydrofracking to five counties in the
Southern Tier of New York where the
Marcellus shale
Marcellus may refer to:
* Marcellus (name)
* Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman commander
Places
* Marcellus, Lot-et-Garonne, France
* Marcellus Township, Michigan
** Marcellus, Michigan, a village in Marcellus Township
** Marcellus Community S ...
is deepest and drilling is least likely to pollute
well water
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
supplies in those
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their character ...
s.
Because the proposed change in
New York energy law was highly controversial, the ''
Albany Times Union
The ''Times Union'' is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Sa ...
'' the next day filed a front-page,
above the fold
Above the fold is the upper half of the front page of a newspaper or tabloid where an important news story or photograph is often located. Papers are often displayed to customers folded so that only the top half of the front page is visible. Th ...
story questioning the plan's leak as a "trial balloon" in the headline, which had quickly garnered both criticism and support.
In another example, a company might announce they are going to release a new
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer prog ...
in a year, and then read the press coverage for hints on whether or not the product will have appeal in the marketplace. If the coverage is favourable the money will be spent on development, but if not the project can be cancelled before using up resources. A trial balloon under the company's own name is somewhat risky; if too many are "floated" the company risks becoming known as the company that
cried wolf, and can find itself being ignored completely. In addition, the company can find that the product being planned is unworkable, leading to the phenomenon of
vaporware
In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. Use of the word has broade ...
.
In American slang, the phrase ''
raise the flag and see who salutes'' (i.e., to raise an issue and see the reaction) might be used to describe a trial balloon.
United Kingdom
A
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
example was in 1885 when
Herbert Gladstone, son of
Liberal Party leader
William Ewart Gladstone, wrote a letter to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
'' stating support for
Irish Home Rule. This has been dubbed the
Hawarden Kite after
Hawarden Castle, the Gladstone family home. Historians are uncertain whether this was co-ordinated between the Gladstones, but the reaction was sufficiently sympathetic for Gladstone to publicly commit himself and his party to a policy of Irish Home Rule.
Ireland
Another example was the suggestion in Ireland in the 1960s by
Brian Lenihan,
Minister for Justice, that
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
should join the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...
.
He did so on the instructions of the
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the offic ...
,
Seán Lemass
Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 195 ...
. However the Irish public and general reaction was hostile, and Lemass and Lenihan both agreed to abandon the idea, with Lemass, in concert with Lenihan, claiming that Lenihan had been speaking theoretically in a personal capacity and not for his government.
See also
* "
Run it up the flagpole"
* "
Will it play in Peoria?"
*
Exploratory committee
*
Stalking horse
A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge on behalf of an anonymous third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the anonymous third party can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk o ...
*
Overton Window
The Overton window is the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse.
Background
The term is named after American policy analyst Joseph Overton, who sta ...
References
{{Wiktionary
Political catchphrases
Promotion and marketing communications