Page 71 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

64 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

information shortcuts and rules of thumb that voters use to obtain and
evaluate information and to simplify the processes of choosing between
candidates or forming opinions about issues. Often these processes are
unconscious. Their nature is unintentional, and the inherent lack of aware-
ness is not that of the stimuli that provoked it but of the influence or con-
sequences of those stimuli (Bargh & Morsella, 2008). According to Fiske
and Taylor (2008), from the social-psychological perspective people are
viewed as “activated actors.” That is, social environments rapidly cue per-
ceivers’ social concepts, without awareness, and almost inevitably cue as-
sociated cognitions, evaluations, affect, motivation, and behavior. Thus it
comes as no surprise that the majority of persuasion strategies used by
candidates and by governments rely not on convincing citizens to accept
certain principles, but rather on sublime and “imperceptible” opinion
shaping or behavior control such that citizens feel their choices are free
and conscious (Cwalina & Falkowski, 2008).
Efficient political systems in democratic countries are based on the
same free market principles utilized in large economic corporations and
small companies. In recent years, understanding the importance of these
principles has led politicians to become more and more pragmatic and
sensitive to voters’ needs. Politicians began to realize the importance of the
social atmosphere and put less emphasis on their own political views. It is
the voters who decide whether a politician remains on the political stage
and whether a new political star is born. Politicians have realized that win-
ning parliamentary or presidential elections without a marketing strategy
is nearly impossible. Although initially voter and political behavior meth-
odology was adopted from such areas as consumer behavior and market-
ing strategies, at present an independent discipline seems to be emerging:
political marketing (Cwalina, Falkowski, & Newman, 2011). Political
marketing consists of “the processes of exchanges and establishing, main-
taining, and enhancing relationships among objects in the political market
(politicians, political parties, voters, interests groups, institutions), whose
goal is to identify and satisfy their needs and develop political leadership”
(Cwalina, Falkowski, & Newman, 2009, p. 70). There is a reciprocal rela-
tionship between politicians’ (candidates’ or governments’) campaign
strategies and citizen decision making. Voter behavior cannot be fully un-
derstood without taking into account campaign information, and the be-
havior of politicians rests fundamentally on perceptions about what voters
care about and how they make up their minds in a campaign (Hillygus &
Shields, 2008).
The development of democracy and political freedom facilitates the
rapid development of marketing techniques intended to influence human