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Political Communicators and Their Strategies: Propaganda Public Relations Political Marketing
Political Communicators and Their Strategies: Propaganda Public Relations Political Marketing
Political Communicators and Their Strategies: Propaganda Public Relations Political Marketing
Propaganda
Public relations
Political Marketing
Political communicators
Governments
Domestically and abroad
Political parties
Interest groups
Non-governmental organizations
Military
Terrorists
Autocratic regimes and communication
Propaganda
”the management of collective attitudes by the manipulation of significant symbols”
“very much concerned about how a specific solution is to be evoked and ‘put over’”
Two myths of PR
Edward Bernays’ myth
that public opinion could be manufactured for a price, bought and sold like any other
commodity
Asymmetrical/functional approach
Ivy Lee’s myth
that PR is natural, honorable and honest - part of the "two-way street" process of democratic
communications between businesses and their "publics"
Symmetrical/ co-creational approach
Quotes
‘We always tell our clients that honesty is the best policy. […] All our work is done in the
open. We aim to supply news. . . . Our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of business
concerns and public institutions, to supply the press and the public of the United States prompt
and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to
know about.’ (Ivy Lee, Statement of Principles, 1906)
‘If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind [it would be possible to]
control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it. . . . Theory
and practice have combined with sufficient success to permit us to know that in certain cases
we can effect some change in public opinion with a fair degree of accuracy by operating a
certain mechanism, just as the motorist can regulate the speed of his car by manipulating the
flow of gasoline.” (Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928)
Public relations practice
Applications
Crisis management
Reputation management
Issue management
Investor relations and labour relations
Grassroots PR (astroturf PR)
Tools
Press conference
Press releases
Publicity events (stunts)
The “circuit”
Sponsorship
Objectives
Credibility
Publicity
Political marketing
Empirical phenomenon
Social change
Electoral change
Increasing importance of campaigns
Professionalization of campaigns
Research paradigm
Market models of politics
Expansion of marketing to non-commercial applications
Marketing model of party behaviour
Social and electoral change
Social change
Decreasing identifiability and relevance of social class
Increasing social mobility
Increased education
Decreasing relevance of ideology
Emergence of new issues/cleavages (Inglehart)
Electoral change
Dealignment
Increasing electoral volatility
Decreasing explanatory power of variables like age, gender, class
Decreasing importance of “projection”/issue alignment
Issue voting; pocketbook voting; retrospective voting
Increasing importance of campaigns
Downs
An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957)
Rational choice model of voting
Assuming material self-interest as primary motivation of elites and voters
Median voter theorem: party platforms will converge, to accommodate voter preferences
Wellhofer
“Contradictions in Market Models of Politics: the Case of Party Strategies and Voter Linkages'”,
European Journal of Political Research 1990
Vote production
vs.
Vote maximization
Marketing model of party behaviour
Three-stage development of modern business practice
applied to evolution of organizational behaviour of
political parties
“Parties may simply stand for what they believe in, or focus on persuading voters to
agree with them, or change their behaviour to follow voters’ opinions” (Jennifer
Lees-Marshment, 2001: p. 701)
Product-oriented party
Sales-oriented party
Market-oriented party
Product-oriented party
Ideological
Representing/leading social movement
Unresponsive to social change
Electoral success not an objective in itself
Electoral goal: vote production/supporter mobilization
Sales-oriented party
Ideological
Intra-organizational choice of policies, leadership
Using market research, advertising, communication techniques to sell itself, its
policies
Electoral goal: persuasion
Market-oriented party
Using market intelligence to identify voter demands
Assessing deliverability of demanded policies
Assessing intra-party acceptability of policy changes
Designing product (party manifesto, leadership selection, etc) accordingly
Electoral goal: adapting to the market
Reconciling reputation with theory
Reputation
Political marketing considered to be manipulative (spin doctors), dishonest, close
to propaganda, placing style over substance
Effect
Political marketing practice appears to turn people off (decreasing turnout in US
since 1970s, collapse of turnout under New Labour since 1997)
Public demand for politicians of conviction (but consider the paradox of
Margaret Thatcher – the pioneer of political marketing in UK, nonetheless
understood as principled and ideological)
Theory
Positivistic, presenting political marketing as potentially regenerative force for
democracies (by basing policy on public preferences)