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

186 Pages·1999·10.281 MB·English

by  Bruce I Newman

THE
MASS
MARKETING
OF
POLITICS
This book is dedicated to Judy Newman,
my wife and best friend.
Judy, thank y ou for your loving support
and for sharing in my excitement of politics.
This book is yours as much as it is mine.
BRUCE L NEWMAN
THE
MASS
MARKETING
OF
POLITICS
DEMOCRACY IN AN AGE OF
MANUFACTURED IMAGES
SAGE Publications
International Educational and Professional Publisher
Copyright © 1999 by Sage Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
For information:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
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Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newman, Bruce I.
The mass marketing of politics: Democracy in an age of manufactured
images / by Bruce I. Newman,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7619-0958-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-7619-0959-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Electioneering—United States. 2. Marketing—United States.
3. Presidents—United States—Election. 4. Democracy—United States.
5. United States—politics and government—20th century. I. Title.
JK2281 .N484 1999
324.7'2'0973—dc21 99-6266
00 01 02 03 04 05 7 6 5 4 3
Acquisition Editor: Harry Briggs
Editorial Assistant: Mary Ann Vail
Production Editor: Astrid Virding
Editorial Assistant: Patricia Zeman
Typesetter: Lynn Miyata
Indexer: Cristina Haley
Contents
Foreword
Newton N. Minow
Preface
Introduction
1. The Impact of Marketing on Democracy
2. From Party Politics to Mass Marketing
3. The ABC's of Marketing
4. The Information Highway
5. Strategy
6. The Art of Crafting an Image
7. The Permanent Campaign
8. The Solution
Afterword
References
Additional Reading
Name Index
Subject Index
About the Author

Foreword
Why are so many voters turned off by today's political campaigns? Why do so
few people take advantage of their precious right to vote? Why do so few
citizens participate in politics? Is our democratic process at risk because of
apathy and indifference?
These important questions are carefully analyzed in this thoughtful book by
a respected scholar and marketing expert, Bruce I. Newman of DePaul Univer-
sity. Newman insightfully sums up his case as follows:
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)
What is new about this development is the astonishing sophistication of
contemporary commercial marketing techniques that are now being used by
professional political consultants. Primary elections originally were created by
reformers who wanted to get rid of the old-fashioned cigar-smoking political
bosses in the back room. What happened is that we replaced the old bosses with
new bosses, described by Newman as political consultants who are now the
"coaches and managers who determine the outcome, with the media serving as
umpires" (p. 18). So, although we might have gotten rid of the old smoke-filled
room, the new smoke-free room is occupied by a new breed of bosses who know
how to manipulate new marketing techniques to influence voters.
vii
viii THE MASS MARKETING OF POLITICS
The power of the new consultants extends beyond campaign periods. Con-
sultants remain after the election. Their advice eliminates the difference be-
tween campaigning and governing. When a candidate wins an election, he or
she brings into office the same consultants who helped win the victory, and the
same process continues on.
A major cause of the problem is our method of campaign finance. Former
Senator Paul Simon believes that citizens are wrong when they think that
Congress is an unresponsive institution. To the contrary, both Simon and
Newman think that Congress is excessively responsive—to the polls and to
campaign contributors. The problem, as they perceive it, is that this responsive-
ness (to the wrong people) is leading to the erosion of national leadership. I
think that they are right. New and creative ideas about campaign finance are
needed, including public service television time for candidates that is now
provided in most other democracies. The British system works very well, and
we could adopt it for our country.
This book is important because it casts new light on the future of campaigns,
the future of elections, and the future of the democratic process. Today's
cynicism about politics is dangerous for our political health and could be deadly
for our children. We can govern ourselves wisely only if we have abundant,
factual, relevant information about candidates' talent and character rather than
their consultants' slick versions of what they think we want to see and hear. That
is why The Mass Marketing of Politics deserves your thoughtful reading and
reflection.
Newton N. Minow
Counsel, Sidley & Austin
Chicago
(Former chairman, Federal Communications Commission)
Preface
The Mass Marketing of Politics makes it very clear why our democracy is on
shaky ground: Leaders in Washington, D.C., are completely disconnected from
the American people. The impeachment of the president of the United States
turned into a political campaign, with a reliance on partisanship over the will
of the American people. When the Monica Lewinsky case broke in January
1998, the American people had a sitting president whose job approval ratings
hovered close to 60%, even on the eve of his impeachment by the House of
Representatives. To the amazement of political analysts, Bill Clinton has
successfully manufactured two different images of himself: one as the president
and one as a private citizen.1 In fact, many people have questioned how the
president has been able to keep the two images separate and distinct in the minds
of so many people. The answer to that question lies in this book.
Mass marketing techniques that have made Coca-Cola a household name
have been used by Clinton to communicate with the American people. The key
difference is that the vast majority of Americans know Clinton only from the
image they see of him on television. The White House knows this and has spent
millions of dollars on polling and focus groups to monitor how people perceive
the president's ideas. There are no limits to the use of polls in the modern
presidency, including Clinton's use of this tool to monitor the mood of the nation
before deciding that it was not in his best political interests to tell the American
people the truth about his relationship with Lewinsky. The presidency has
turned into a "permanent campaign," making reliance on mass marketing
techniques inevitable and potentially dangerous to the health of our democracy.
The ideas expressed in this book move back and forth between the world of
corporations and their products and the world of politicians and their ideas. The
reader will find comparisons of the image manufacturing of successful compa-
ix