Introduction to political science

December 3rd

Using political marketing in the electoral campaigns

The main consequence concerns from the political science point of view the way in which
political choice operated by the citizens is made. It has been argued that politicians
cannot be presented according to rules of political marketing. You cannot sell politics like
you sell products. In fact, even the politicians were against the idea at the first time.
“The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal is the
ultimate indignity to the democratic process”. (Adlai Stevenson – presidential candidate
against Eisenhower 1952)
“I think the American people will be shocked by such contempt for their intelligence.”
What the campaigners did was to identify the specific group that was more likely to vote
for a candidate. Then they tried to find out what this market wanted, what was expected
from their product.
1. The huge difference between choosing a product and choosing a politician is in Serge
Albouy’s word the fact that the product affects one person, while the politician could be
affecting the life of many
2. You can get rid of a product right away if you don’t like it, but it’s harder to get rid of a
politician once you have elected him/her.
3. Lack of rationality in the choice – there is more rationality in the choice you are
making for a product than in the choice you are making for a politician. There is more
reason involved in the first case. Using political marketing and political publicity adds to
that lack of rationality. First, the ads were supposed to inform you, but they no longer do;
they are seducing you.
Jean Baudrillard – “La societe de consummation”
What are people really able to correctly evaluate?
Particulation – it means that we have a manipulation with the agreement of both parts.
Editorial control - the candidates have total control over the message that is
broadcasted. The message is a pretty thin one, but yet if that type of mean of
communication would not have been effective it would have been discarded a long time
ago, so ads are effective and used.

What happens from a historical point of view is that in 1952 we have in USA the
campaigns of Eisenhower and, on the other hand, Adlai Stevenson (Democrat) with John
Sparkman. It is the first election that uses political marketing in a conscious way. Instead
of having 30 minutes speeches, they started concentrating the main message in a series
of 20 second ads that could be broadcast before or after popular TV shows. The
argument was that this way, a greater number would be able to view the message and it
would be cheaper. The president of the time, Truman, had some very big popularity
problems because of the Korean War. At the same time, Sen. John McCarthy had already
begun the witch hunt and Truman had to face the disclosure of a wide-spread corruption
among federal clerks. Eisenhower’s slogan: “It’s time for a change.”
“Eisenhower answers America” – series of 40 ads
Stevenson’s slogan: “You never had it so good.”
18 30-minute speeches that were supposed to be aired on Thursdays and Tuesdays after
10.30 pm, but the problem was the audience was getting thinner and thinner; secondly,
those who stayed up late and watched the ads were decided to vote for him anyway.
Stevenson uses what can be described as a negative campaign and that negative
campaigning is done in a very cruel way because his TV ads resembled a lot radio ads.
Eisenhower 39 states – 442 electoral votes – 55.2%
Stevenson 9 states – 89 electoral votes -

The 1960 campaign of Kennedy and Nixon

There was a relative prosperity, but we have the beginning of the modern civil rights
movement. In 1959, Fidel Castro wins Cuba so the Americans have the Red Menace at 90
miles from their territory. At the same time, Vice-president Nixon is wildly applauded and
recognized as an accomplished diplomat with real skills for foreign policies and that was
due to his debate in 1959 with Nikita Khrushchev.
On the other hand, we have an Irish Catholic who wants to become the youngest
president of the USA, with very little experience. “the verge of a new frontier”.