Political marketing and image building: Emerging concerns

Wajid Ali khan Panni

It is now more than two centuries since Rousseau regretfully concluded that 'no true democracy has ever existed nor ever will'. But as an ideal, the yearning to make true democracy operational has become an important objective of practical politics in the late twentieth century. It is no exaggeration to say that the drive to achieve true democracy has gathered strength in direct proportion to the degree of frustration and alienation felt in the face of the bafflingly complex and impersonal political and social institutions of our society.
   It is generally believed that the proliferation of communication and information technology will enhance and reinforce procedural democracy through its catalyst role as a provider of information dissemination functions. However, the dynamics of media -politics linkage in recent times clearly show that communication revolution cannot always be a watchdog of democracy in general and participatory democracy in particular. Instead of strengthening the ideological spirit of democracy, media often tried to attempt to support and practice the commercialisation of politics through various ways. In this process media has altered the nature and content of democratic political process, to make it more business like and less political.
   The electorate is regarded as the market to sell the brand of a party or leader. The voter is a consumer who exercises his/her choice from the available alternatives in the political market which are delivered to him/her in different desirable brands. The brand of politician gets the properties of goods which have to be sold competently to voters. In this process, a commercial value of such brand is defined by quantity of votes collected in support of the given candidate. When the entire gamut of democratic politics becomes an interplay of the commercial elements, the modern politician cannot manage without an army of own policy-technologists, image-makers, promoters, specialists in PR and political advertising, who promote his image as a trade-mark using all opportunities of modern mass media and communications. When the candidate's brand and the marketing strategy is important in election market; ethics, ideology and party programs are often ignored or sidelined.
   
   Political marketing
   In mainstream Political Science literature, this process is popularly known as 'Political Marketing'. Today both the sphere of policy and the sphere of business operate under the laws of marketing. In the modern times, marketing is used for the creation of the complete image of the leader, including both its "packing", and brand designing, and choice of the core campaign topics and its tonality. Against this context, the present article is an attempt to highlight the role of political branding, image building and campaign managers in changing the face of democratic values and ideology. Political marketing is dangerous when it is used by hegemonic international powers to demonize and branding certain countries or persons as threat to human peace. American policy to brand Iraq as global threat is a classic example.
   Political marketing is synonymous with the use of persuasive techniques in campaigns to promote both politicians and their policies. The borrowing of professional communication tools, such as advertising and public relations is believed to epitomize the concept of political marketing. Political marketing also involves the evaluation and redesign of policies and strategies in the light of studies of the electorate's concerns. There is evidence to suggest that political marketing has contributed to improved communication between the politicians and voters. Especially apparent in the popular and academic literature on both political marketing and political communication is the occupation with image and how much or little it affects the voter. Often the phenomenon of image in politics is said to have risen because of visual media and its increasing influence over people.
   In the political science literature in English, political marketing as a term has been used in the past primarily to describe certain forms of political communications within electoral campaigns. Despite the involvement of marketers and market researchers in political campaigns, it is only recently that a distinctive well-founded marketing literature on political marketing has emerged. In the UK since the 1997 election campaign, there has been a considerable interest in political marketing with widespread public awareness of its impact in terms of image creation, focus groups and the use of spin doctors. In USA political marketing has developed as the most fundamental factor which can alter democratic decision making through sophisticated professionalized tactics.
   The communication process in political science with a market orientation has passed through several stages. In the first age that emerged after the II World War, political communication was viewed as "the golden age of parties". During that time political discourse was largely subordinated to stable political institutions. At the same time the voters' behaviour was marked by strong party identification. Political communication in the first age was characterized by three distinct features. Firstly, political messages were more substantive, which meant that political candidates talked about what made them distinctive from their opponents in their policies. Secondly, many such messages were granted relatively ready access to the media. Thirdly, the voters' response was frequently characterized by selectivity and reinforcement of political beliefs.
   The second age of political communication, which started in the 60s, was marked by the increasing importance of television, which dominated the political debate. This period was characterized by four transformations. Firstly, television led to reduction of exposure to party propaganda as it offered a broader platform for alternative directions and policies. This trend was further intensified by the decline of party press and other organizations attached to the political groupings. Secondly, television "constitutionally mandated to such non-partisan norms as fairness, impartiality, neutrality" which became central for political communication. Thirdly, television contributed to enlarging the audience since it penetrated also these segments of the electorate that were earlier difficult to reach and thus less prone to the media exposure. Simultaneously, party identification was loosening as a consequence of short-term influences which took a form of news events showing immediate successes and failures of political actors. Besides, the fact that television news was able to exert such short-term influences led to modification of parties' tactics which had to adjust to the "media logic.
   
   Channel proliferation
   Finally, the third age of political communication brought a rapid proliferation of different communication channels. As suggested by Blumler & Kavanagh (1999:213) "to politicians, the third age media system must loom like a hydra-header beast, the many mouths of which are continually clamouring to be fed. When something happens, they are expected to tell the media what they are going to do about it well before they can be fully informed themselves. For journalists, the news cycle has accelerated, since more outlets combined with increased competition across them piles pressure on all involved to keep the story moving and to find angles on it. Journalists 'feeding frenzies' become yet more frantic. Time for political and journalistic reflection and judgment is squeezed". Simultaneously, communication abundance changed how voters receive and decode political messages. New media increasingly individualize communication the capacity that is particularly assigned to Internet. Today, observing the fast evolution of the election technologies allowing political forces to bring their candidate to the authority, we get more and more convinced, that success in elections of many well-known representatives of the authority is reached; thanks to the successfully generated image of the politician combining a victory will, confidence in own power, pragmatic political program, rigidity toward contenders and "touching" attention to problems and cares of ordinary voters.
   Well-known political technologist Jacque Seguela, who supervised the elective company of Jacque Chirac (1995), once rightly remarked: "A politician unlike a writer is a consumption product." In this respect it is impossible to think that today aspiration of leaders to reach authority and to keep it, has become more commercial with application of all media arsenal which is available now. In modern elective technologies the brand of politician gets the properties of goods which have to be sold competently to voters. In this process a commercial value of such brand is defined by quantity of votes collected in support of the given candidate. Today political technologies of the candidate, image promotion and sale to voters are unified by the broad concept of political marketing which, however, has one specific feature, i.e. political marketing, unlike the commercial one, deals with a special kind of the goods namely the candidate brand, which has its own consumer (electorate), realization market (elections) and commercial cost.
   However, most political actors are far from having an integrated and sophisticated understanding of marketing applications for their political exchange situations. Political marketing management in politics has caused some 'leading' parties and candidates to adopt a simplistic and populist 'follower'-mentality, contri-buting to the disenchantment of the electorate and a resulting cynicism regarding politics in general. Though political marketing management is an integral part of elections campaigns in democracy, even scholars questions the increasing use of professionalism in democratic process which in turn lead to de-politicization of democracy itself. They argue that political marketing is at a "craft" stage and the direct transferability of mainstream marketing theory to political marketing is questionable. As Kotler and Kotler (1999) point out, "conscious marketing only promises to maximize the candidate's potential... applying standard marketing techniques to political campaigning will at least ensure that the campaign's planning is systematic, efficient, and voter oriented. Marketing can promote the most effective use of scarce resources, generate valuable information for both the candidate and the voters, and promote greater responsiveness in the political process".
   
   Winning strategy
   However it is not easy to win in election only with marketing. For that the party needs a consistent ideology and action plan which is convincing to the electoral market. In US Presidential election race was used as a tool of negative campaigning against Obama. However it didn't attract the voters even though there was vigorous online campaigning to project Obama as Afro-Asian and Pro-Muslim. Instead the electorate was more convinced with Obama's slogan for change and reshaping American foreign policy. In 2004 general Elections in India, BJP tried to win power through its professional campaign management techniques using political consultants and advertisement agencies. The campaign popularly known as 'India Shining' was highly dependent on film stars and other celebrities than mainstream party officials and cadres. However the campaign failed miserably raising serious concerns about the nature and content of professional campaign strategies in a pluralist democracy like India.
   The limitations of political marketing strategies in South Asian context can be further substantiated with my own experience. In 1986, I was independent candidate in Bangladesh Parliament elections. Even though, two of the mainstream political parties had their own candidates, I didn't find any difficulty at any stage of election. I belong to the Panni Family, Zamindars of Karatia, which was part of the constituency. My father was Member of Parliament from the same constituency. Moreover, my great grand father late Wajid Ali Khan Panni was the one of the most benevolent Zamindar of Bengal. He had dedicated his life for the empowerment and uplifting of the people of the locality. Hence I received overwhelming response from the voters when I approached them for blessings. I didn't depend on professional campaign managers or consultants to design and deliver my campaign strategy to attract the people. Instead I directly approached them, requested for their blessings and listened to their problems seriously. The people made their small contributions to my election fund and participated in the campaign on their own. I only said that I want their prayers and will try my best to help and get their rightful due for the development. Nothing else was promised as they did not expect me to be part of a Government. My campaign team did not consult advertising agencies or professional consultants. Most of them were tenants of the Zamindari who worked hard for my victory.
   Another danger of political marketing lies in branding a particular country or leader as threat to world peace and security. Political marketing is a powerful weapon in war; it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms, avoiding some words or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just.
   In this case, in the consciousness of the observers, certain image of war was formed thanks to competent management of information streams, dosage of information from a battlefield and sketchiness of real events representation in mass-media, which gradually transfers from a tragedy of at least one nation to some simplified image, a brand of "the struggle against the international terrorism and dictatorship". Further promotion and consumption of this product by outer and inner audience took place under the laws of commercial marketing, the same way as of any other goods. Today there are no hesitations that the trade mark of the military conflict in Iraq created by the American experts on psychological war allowed to introduce quickly and effectively in the consciousness of population the ideology of preventive use of armed forces in the interests of narrow political elites governing the USA. In the invasion of Afghanistan, psychological operations tactics were employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At least six EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages. Leaflets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for Osama bin Laden and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing various negative aspects of the Taliban. Here, the issue for concern is not combating terrorism but the manipulative means used to project each enemy as terrorist and a threat to global peace.
   Another bright example of the political conflict "brand" creation and promotion is the psychological campaign of the USA concerning Iran. Under the same laws of political marketing the technology of country's foreign policy of promotion is built, i.e. through creation of the trade mark which gives to foreign policy the features of the commercial product ready for consumption. Commercial cost of such mark is expressed in quantity indicators of support of the foreign policy by citizens inside of the country and allies outside it. In all these examples we can see that the consent of the people is manufactured using global media with narrow vested interests. Hence the very idea of participatory democracy is in deep crisis which is an issue of serious concern. Propagandistic manipulation and distortion of political discourse will sideline and demoralize democratic ideals whether or not it is successful. Apart from that, a political message which is delivered with commercial packaging and trade mark can cause confusion in the society as it undermines clarity of ordinary political discourse and the capacity of ordinary citizens to decide on democratic platform. Civil society then dissolves, as individuals retreat into themselves and are reduced from citizens to self-seeking consumers, and society is reduced to a mere marketplace.
   This process also weakens the party structure based on ideology and cadre system. When political campaigning and agenda setting are designed and monitored by professional campaign managers and paid consultants, voluntarism and activism relegates to the background which will ultimately erode the very basis of the party itself. The party demands only a group of skilled politicians who can manage and sustain their image and brand among the political consumers. It is thus the urgent responsibility of the intellectuals, civil society and political scientists to deconstruct the current political practice on marketing, branding and demonizing and make it more democratic, participatory and transparent. Such a movement is a pre requisite for an open, active and productive political debate.
   References:
   1. Noam Chomsky, The Chomsky Reader, Pantheon Books, New York,1987
   2. Stephen Henneberg, Generic Functions of Political Marketing Management, University of bath, 2003.
   3. Stephen Henneberg, Political Marketing Theory, University of bath, 2003.
   4. Benjamin Barber, War, Terrorism and Democracy, Norton, 2006.
   Various Newspapers and Magazines
   This document was created with Win2PDF available at http://www.win2pdf.com.
   The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-commercial use only.

^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE

Mohammad Khairul Alam

Children should be exclusively breastfed - i.e. receive only breast milk as it is the most comprehensive diet feed to ensure full nutrition and growth of a baby - for optimal growth, development and health. The physical and psychological growth of a baby depends on the nutritional health of the mother before birth and on proper breast-feeding after birth. Breast milk is the best feed to give them appropriate nutrition and growth up till the first six months. But recently the mothers are depending more on the powder milk brands. "Exclusive breastfeeding" is defined as giving no other food or drink - not even water - except breast milk. It does, however, allow the infant to receive drops and syrups (vitamins, minerals and medicines). Breast milk is the ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; breastfeeding is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers.
   WHO recommends that infants start receiving complementary foods at six months (180 days) of age in addition to breast milk.
   Unfortunately, powder milk is no more safe for the children; as we all know, the discovery of melamine in several powder milk brands has been one of the most talked about issues in recent times. Melamine is a chemical that usually is used to make plastic, adhesive, foam or fertilizers. This melamine is mixed with powder milk to increase the nutritional value artificially, though it is never suitable to our human bodies.
   The powder milk containing melamine damages the kidneys of the children drinking it; as a result the children are exposed to instant death or lifelong kidney problems. So we all need to take some necessary steps to encourage breast-feeding of children and avoid powder milk. We also need to ensure consumer rights through ensuring proper quality of food items. This was the speech of national adviser of UNIDO in a seminar arranged by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Foundation with the slogan 'No More Powder Milk'.

^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE