Page 27 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 6

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION

Figure 1.1 Elements of political communication.

marketing is analogous to commercial marketing in so far as political organ-
isations, like those in the commercial sector, must target audiences from whom
(electoral) support is sought, using channels of mass communication, in a
competitive environment where the citizen/consumer has a choice between
more than one ‘brand’ of product. While there are obvious differences in the
nature of the political and commercial marketplaces, and political parties
measure success not in terms of profit but in voting share and effective power,
political marketing employs many of the principles applied by the manu-
facturers of goods and services as they strive for commercial success.
Political advertising, the subject of Chapter 6, is also founded on prin-
ciples originally worked out by the business sector to exploit the presumed
persuasive potential of mass media. This form of political communication
uses mass media to ‘differentiate’ political products (i.e. parties and candi-
dates) and give them meaning for the ‘consumer’, just as the soap manu-
facturer seeks to distinguish a functionally similar brand of washing powder
from another in a crowded marketplace.

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