Branding Politics: Emotion, Authenticity, and the Encoding of Political Communication

• In Event: Politicians, Governments, and Their Strategic Communication

Abstract

This paper examines and critiques how the language, logic, and practices of branding have entered into American political campaigns. A review of the literature on branding culture (in traditional commercial contexts) as well as its more recent application to political entities is conducted. The original research is based upon 38 one-on-one, in-depth interviews with political consultants, including media strategists, communication directors, and advertising producers who are involved with the encoding of political candidates as cultural products. The qualitative findings illuminate a professional ideology among these elite practitioners that privileges emotion (vis-à-vis reason) and analyzes their efforts to manage an affected authenticity within mediated spaces. The conclusion laments the democratic upshot of these tactics that work against informed deliberation by the electorate and the potential for the performative “sign-value” of political candidates to eclipse their more policy-oriented “use-value” when produced to these ends.

Author

• Michael James Serazio, Fairfield University