The Mass Marketing of Politics: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images

Citation

Cornelissen, J. (2001), "The Mass Marketing of Politics: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 No. 9/10, pp. 1155-1158. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm.2001.35.9_10.1155.1

The Mass Marketing of Politics: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images is a riveting, conscientious book and a strident call for a greater awareness of the persuasive influence of marketing upon modern‐day politics. Packed with enlightening and extraordinary anecdotal evidence, Newman sketches the changes in the political landscape and its effect on the US democracy. The easy and fluent style of the book makes it an accessible read to everyone with an interest in modern‐day US politics. The only flaw of the book is that, although Newman succinctly describes the adoption of marketing techniques (and mind‐sets) by US politicians in recent campaigns, he declines to give a formal definition of the concept of “political marketing” and its historical development. The consequence of this is that Newman fails to address the academically crucial question whether “political marketing” only refers to the application of marketing tactics and techniques (e.g. focus groups, market research) within politics, campaigning in particular, or whether the concept refers more broadly to every form of communication (image crafting) and exchange between political parties and/or candidates on the one hand and the electorate on the other. While seemingly opting for the latter definition in his drawing of analogies and comparisons between business marketing and politics, Newman regrettably pays scant attention to the important debates on the definition of political marketing (see Wring, 1997). Nonetheless, Newman’s efforts at synthesis between the field of mainstream marketing and politics are remarkable, tantalisingly suggestive and groundbreaking for an area of study and practice still very much in development.

The general thesis developed in the book is that particularly since the 1980s there have been significant developments within politics itself and within the communication techniques used by politicians to warrant recognition of the greater use and salience of marketing within politics. In stark contrast with traditional means of grassroots politics, patronage armies and partisan leadership of US politicians, modern‐day politics, the book argues, is waged in the media and has increasingly come in the hands of public relations and marketing technocrats (and not politicians):

Our electoral system originally was set up to give candidates the opportunity to let voters know who they are and what they stand for during the course of a primary campaign. However, an interesting twist has taken place in politics today. Through the use of scientific polling, candidates now use marketing research to do just the opposite, that is, to find out who the voters are and what they want the candidates to stand for. Candidates can then feed back to the voters the ideas that they know will sell in the marketplace (p. 16).

This so‐called market orientation or market‐back approach is for instance shown in Clinton’s use of focus groups and polls during each of his two presidential campaigns (1992, 1996) to direct his campaign strategy. It stands without doubt that the power and reach of media such as television and the Internet have transformed the campaign platforms for politicians, and have also led to changes in how political issues are framed and disseminated. In the course of the first three chapters of the book, Newman documents the historical changes that have occurred in US politics and campaigning, shaped by advances in telecommunications and information technology (chapters 1 and 2), followed by a discussion of the more salient and prominent place of marketing techniques, tools and mind‐sets (chapter 3) in US campaigning and governing processes ever since the Reagan presidency:

The Reagan presidency marked the real beginning of the integration of several marketing tools developed over a 40‐year period including negative advertising, direct mail, sophisticated marketing research and polling, and planning and implementation of campaign strategy that closely mirrored what business was doing in the commercial marketplace (p. 25).

In the context of the changed US political landscape and the apparent increase in the use of political (negative) advertising, polls, “spin doctors” and consultants, market segmentation, and telemarketing, Newman feels confident to argue that “the same principles that operate in the commercial marketplace hold true in the political marketplace: successful companies have a market orientation and are constantly engaged in creating value for their customers” (p. 35). From this perspective, Newman goes on to argue, the electorate can be studied as a consumer in the political marketplace, using the same models and theories in marketing that are used to study consumers in the commercial marketplace. When drawing this analogy two notable differences should however be taken into account; first, there are differences in philosophy and objectives (the goal of politics is a successful operation of democracy, while the general leitmotiv of companies is making profits), and, second, politics involves the balancing of political ideology next to and alongside consideration of (changes in) public opinion (instead of directly following results of market research as in business). O’Cass’ (1996) study of the perceived utility of the marketing concept amongst politicians led to the same observation: many politicians believe that when using the “marketing concept” (i.e. an “external” orientation on the dispositions of the electorate) as a guiding philosophy, there would be a level of conflict between voter needs and political objectives:

The findings indicated a belief that the marketing concept may move the party away from those philosophies which they espouse and as such is viewed negatively for that reason, and that adopting such a philosophy would only work short term (O’Cass, 1996, p. 51).

The above argument of the changed political landscape and the advance of marketing techniques within US politics, forming the general thrust of the book, is illustrated by timely chapters on the use of advanced techniques such as opinion polls and focus groups (chapter 5), and the Internet and e‐mail (chapter 4) into political campaigning and the governing process, and on the influence of these techniques on the electoral process and on the US democracy as a whole. Chapter 5 shows, using little vignettes of the use of marketing techniques and tools (and their success) within presidential campaigns from 1980 to 1996, how American political campaigns have been transformed from a vehicle for grassroots movements to multi‐media campaigns. The effect of this transformation (which is the subject of chapter 6), perhaps also reflecting larger shifts in society, is that the post‐modern era of politics can be characterised with an emphasis on image over substance:

The political system today is driven by marketing with an emphasis on image over substance, on personality over issues, on 30‐second sound bites over meaningful dialogue, and on technological changes that have altered how information is communicated in the media (p. xv).

In chapter 7, Newman further develops the argument (already developed in his The Marketing of the President: Political Marketing as Campaign Strategy) that the use of marketing techniques (e.g. focus groups, polls, issues management) is not just confined to campaigning but also applies to the governing process. The army of “spin doctors” and consultants often following their clients into office as formal advisers or political appointees to deal with critical issues is a particularly striking example of this.

Chapter 8, finally, sets out to address the issue of the influence of these observed changes in politics on the US democratic political system. The book offers surprisingly little reading on how a democracy is constituted (this is even more striking in the light of the subtitle of the book: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images), side‐stepping the debates whether politics in modern democracies can be characterised as a matter of skilled dexterity and management (realpolitik) rather than sheer ideology, moral leadership, ethical responsibilities and virtue (e.g. Carey, 1997). Newman rather chooses to define democracy as freedom of public speech, and, accordingly, limits or threats to democracy are seen to be those events that limit “the freedom of speech of anyone, especially political leaders”, as they “would destroy the very fabric of the constitution on which our country is based” (p. 137). Besides calling for a greater awareness of the role of marketing within US politics on the side of the electorate, Newman suggests a number of limits and reforms in political marketing campaigns in order to seriously limit the amounts of money spent in future elections. In the light of the statistic that the candidate who spends the most money usually wins an election, such limits and reforms (e.g. an independent body to oversee political campaigns, limits to the length of a marketing campaign) would spread the influence of individuals and reduce the influence of powerful interest groups.

In conclusion, this book is an insightful account of the rise of marketing techniques and tools within modern‐day US politics, and provides an interesting read to anyone with an interest in modern politics. While the book refrains from addressing academic questions about the concept and domain of “political marketing”, the book by one of the most fervent writers upon the topic is essential reading to all those academics with an interest in this field.