You are on page 1of 24

A PROJECT

ON
POLITICAL SCIENCE

“POLITICAL MARKETING”

[SUBMITTED AS A PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR


B.A. LL. B (HONS) 5 YEAR INTEGRATED COURSE]

SESSION: 2019-2020

SUBMITTED ON: 09TH AUGUST 2019

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:


MR. SYED SAFAN ALI DR. PRERNA SINGH LAVANIYA
ROLL NO- 125 FACULTY- POLITICAL SCIENCE
CLASS: I SEMESTER (B)

DECLARATION
I, Syed safan ali, hereby declare that this project titled “POLITICAL MARKETTING” is
based on the original research work carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of
Dr. PRERNA SINGH LAVANIYA

The interpretations put forth are based on my reading and understanding of the original texts.
The books, articles and websites etc. which have been relied upon by me have been duly
acknowledged at the respective places in the text.

For the present project which I am submitting to the university, no degree or diploma has been
conferred on me before, either in this or in any other university.

DATE: 23TH SEPTEMBER 2019 SYED SAFAN ALI

ROLL NO. 125

SEMESTER IST (B)


CERTIFICATE
Dr. Prerna singh lavaniya
Faculty
University five-year law college
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
This is to certify that syed safan ali, student of semester I of university five-year law college,
university of Rajasthan, Jaipur has carried out the project entitled political marketing

Under my supervision and guidance. It is an investigation report of a minor project. the


student has completed research in my stipulated time and according to the norms prescribed
for the purpose.

SUPERVISOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I have written this project, “political marketting” under the supervision of Dr. Prerna singh
lavaniya Faculty, University Five Year Law College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Her
valuable suggestions herein have not only helped me immensely in making this work but also
in developing an analytical approach this work.

I found no words to express my sense of gratitude for Director Dr. Sanjula Thanvi, and Dy.
Director Mr. Manoj Meena and Mr. Abhishek Tiwari constant encouragement at every step.

I am extremely grateful to librarian and library staff of the college for the support and
cooperation extended by them from time to time.
Table of contents

1.POLITICAL MARKETING
INTRODUCTION

2.SIMILARITIES OF CONCEPTS

3.CONSUMER AND VOTER


BEHAVIOUR

4.CONCLUSION

5.BIBLOGRAPHY
POLITICAL MARKETING

Political marketing is the process by which political


candidates and ideas are directed at the voters in order
to satisfy their political needs and thus gain their
support for the candidate and ideas in question. A
cursory comparison between marketing of goods and
services, and marketing of political candidates would
readily point up at least one common concept
promotion. Clearly there is quite extensive use of media
by the seller and the candidate for the purposes of
informing, reminding, as well as changing attitudes and
behavior. Possibly, such a comparison would also
indicate that both marketing of goods and services, and
marketing of political candidates utilize similar tools
such as market research, and various statistical and
computer techniques in studying the market. Although
these points are essentially correct, they denote only a
few of the similarities between marketing and political
marketing.
A more serious comparison, however, will indicate that
many more concepts and tools are shared by marketing
of goods and services, and marketing of political
candidates. Consider, for example, some well-known
2concepts of marketing: sellers and buyers, consumer
behavior, market segmentation, image, brand loyalty,
product concept, and product positioning. They are all
concepts of political marketing. Consider also some of
the familiar tools which are used in marketing: market
research, media, advertising, multiple regression, factor
analysis, discriminant analysis, conjoint measurement,
and multidimensional scaling, etc. The are all tools
utilized in the marketing of political candidates (Kotler,
forthcoming), In addition, even the terminology that
specialists of political campaigns use is basically a
marketing terminology. For example, the development
of political campaign terminology in recent years: "The
Making of The President" (White, 1960, 1964, 1968,
1973), "The Selling of The President" (McGinniss,
1968), and the "Selling of the Candidates" (1971).
But perhaps the most powerful test for applying the
concept of marketing in the area of political marketing,
is by examination of the applicability of consumer
behavior concepts to the area of voter behavior. The
reason for this is that the consumer orientation of
marketing has made consumer behavior concepts the
focal points of marketing.
SIMILARITIES OF
CONCEPTS

Common Concept One: Sellers, Products, and


Buyers. Both marketing and political marketing include
three main elements: sellers, products, and buyers.
Marketing is a process by which sellers offer the buyers
products and services in return for something of value
(usually money). The same process takes place in
political marketing, whereby the candidates offer the
voters products or ideas such as "economic prosperity,"
or "safe society," in return for their votes and support in
the campaign period and there after. The fact that many
economic products can be sold and bought often while
buying the product that political candidates offer can be
done only infrequently and at a fixed point in time and
space does not invalidate this argument, but rather
indicates differences in nature and use of political and
economic products, very similar to the differences in
nature and usage of products and services which are-
traditionally subsumed by marketing (e.g.: food items
Vs. durable goods, insurance, auctioned merchandise).
Common Concept Two: Consumers. The core of both
marketing and political marketing are the consumers.
Without consumers, the marketer of economic goods
and services does not have a market, and without voters
the political marketer does not have a campaign.
Because both marketers need consumers to survive, the
concept of consumer behavior or voter behavior
becomes a focal point of marketing and political
marketing, respectively. The fact that in one case an
individual is called "consumer" and in the other "voter,"
is merely a semantic difference. In both cases the
individual can be viewed as an organism receiving
stimuli about the product and reaching predispositions
to respond, and a final response state after going
through an essentially similar decision making process.
Accordingly, the principles of well known models of
consumer behavior can certainly be applied to voter
behavior, and vice versa. In fact, the similarities here
are so strong, that consumer behavior literature and
models include concepts which were first developed in
the literature of voter behavior, for example, selective
exposure, selective perception, two-step flow of
communication. (See Lazersfeld et.al., 1948; also
Berelson et.al., 1954; Campbell et.al., 1966; Engel
et.al., 1973; and Howard and Sheth, 1969).
Common Concept Three: Market Segmentation and
Product Mix. Both marketing and political marketing
utilize the concepts of market segmentation and target
groups to increase sales and votes, respectively. Market
segmentation is the process by which consumers and
potential consumers of the product are distinguished
along one or more variables so as to create
homogeneous groups, and select some of them as target
gm ups in order to offer a satisfactory product mix, and
achieve the company's goals (e.g.: profit, growth,
market share). Variables along which product and
candidate markets are segmented are almost identical:
age, sex, income, occupation, family size, race,
personality characteristics, life style, and the like.
Furthermore, product-specific variables such as
previous product use and preferred product
characteristics are often similarly used (e.g.: "how many
times did-the voter support the same program or
candidate before?" "What does the voter like most
about the candidate?" etc.). As target groups the product
marketer and the political candidates select consumers
and voters, respectively, and offer them satisfactory
product mixes. The product mix, viz., the different
mixes of product, promotion, price and place that are
offered to different voter segments, is also similar to the
idea of product mix of marketing. Specifically, the
product mix of political marketing includes: (1)
product--the basic themes, ideas or issues that the
candidate may represent "law and order", and "full
employment," and another--"active foreign policy," (2)
promotion-the specific mix of mass media advertising,
specialized media advertising, and personal selling (i.e.:
canvassing),that the candidate uses to reach his target
voters. In addition, the idea that different voter
segments may be effectively reached by different
promotion mix is well practiced by political marketers,
(3) price--the vote given to the candidate, which
alternatively could have been given to the competing
candidate. This price is not a fixed one (i.e., it is not
merely a vote), but can be conceived as having different
values which are a function of the attractiveness of
those candidates competing with the chosen one; and
(4) place--the importance of when and where the
product (i.e. the candidate or the ideas representing
him) is available to the voter. Obviously, availability
and timing of the product are as critical elements in
political marketing as they are in marketing of goods
and services. The fact that the polls are open to the
voters only in specified times and places, and the fact
that each consumer is restricted to one purchase only
(one vote), do not imply a sharp difference from the
concept of place as it has thus far been conceived by
marketing. For example, auctions are held only at
specified places and times and contrary to elections not
even on a regular basis. In addition, consumer
purchases are often restricted in quantity, the way
voters are restricted to one vote.
Common Concept Four: Product Image. Both
product marketing and candidate marketing have
emphasized that consumer and voter behaviour toward
products and candidates in question. In addition, it
seems that they both have over-popularized the image
concept to a degree where it became merely an
impression or a stereotype that consumers and voters
have about the products and candidates, respectively.
However, a recent synthesizing effort to investigate this
concept suggest that image is a result of an interactive
perceptual process through which the perceiver selects
some of the object's attributes (e.g. brand and quality of
a product, party affiliation and issues of a candidate),
processes them in his mind, and forms predispositions
to respond toward the object. Therefore, it seems that
the image concept is not only shared by marketing of
goods and services, and marketing of political
candidates, but rather is a concept common to many
social political candidates, but rather is a concept
common to many social sciences (Shama, 1975).
Common Concept Five: Brand Loyalty. When
measured by the degree of attachment to the brand (as
indicated by repeated purchase or brand attitude), and
related to such consumer's characteristics as age,
income, race, personality, etc., brand loyalty becomes
equivalent to the concept of party loyalty of political
marketing. Furthermore, the concepts of brand loyalty
and party loyalty have been utilized as a baseline for
promotion strategy for the product and the candidate.
Accordingly, the first step of such promotion strategy is
to distinguish between voters who are loyal to the party
and swing voters and hence design a different
promotion mix for each of the two main groups
(Campbell, et al., 1966).
Common Concept Six: Product Development. Both
product marketing and political marketing place great
importance on the series of integrated activities and
research that take part in the process of developing a
product that will satisfy the target consumers and
voters, respectively. In the case of consumer products,
product development is a process through which a
consumer-satisfying parcel of ingredients, quality,
brand, package, etc., is created. Similarly, the process of
developing a product in the political market is one of
creating a parcel encompassing a candidate, issues,
party, and the like, which will satisfy the target voters.
Common Concept Seven: Product Concept.
Essentially a part of the product development process,
the product concept includes the central idea(s) which
serves as the core of the product in the target group's
mind. This concept is shared by marketing and political
marketing. Thus, an economic product such as a car
might be planned and developed to convey "economy"
and "dependability," while a candidate might wish to
convey "healthy economy" and "active foreign policy”.
Common Concept Eight: Product Positioning.
Related to the above concepts of product development
and product concept, the idea of product positioning:
the process by which the product is positioned vis-a-via
its competitors in the market. Clearly, it is utilized by
both marketing and political marketing. In both cases,
the product's and the candidate's "location" in the
perceptual map of consumers and the voters relative to
the location of the competitors is to be determined,
planned, and promoted so as to increase consumer and
voter preference of the product and the candidate in
question. In addition, products and candidates utilize
the same research technique in determining and
planning their positions in the market in relation to their
competitors, namely multidimensional scaling.
CONSUMER AND VOTER BEHAVIOR
Voter behaviour has been studied much in the same
manner as consumer behaviour, namely as a decision
making process to engage in a certain action (voting,
purchasing), including processes which precede and
follow that act. Both the voter and the consumer are
viewed as individuals receiving information, and
possibly seeking out information, processing this
information to reach predispositions to respond, and
finally responding toward the product and the candidate
in question. Consequently, the principles of well-known
models and frameworks of consumer behaviour can be
effectively applied to voter behaviour and vice versa.
Accordingly, in applying the general approach of
consumer behaviour models to voter behaviour, one can
point out the following components that are part of the
decision process (Howard and Sheth, 1969).
1. Stimulus input variables which originate from the
candidate and his party and are targeted at the voters.
Such input variables may be related to the candidate's
experience in politics, his style of action as a political
figure, his stand on issues, and his party identification.
2. Environmental influences on the voter. These relate
to such factors as social class, peer group, and family
influence on the voter, as well as the influence of the
voter's own personality traits, and past experience with
the candidate in question.
3. Processing stimulus and environmental information
to reach voting predispositions. Such processing is
subject to learning and selective screening.
4. Output variables which relate to the decision how to
vote, as well as to changes in perception of, and attitude
toward, the candidate. One of the most powerful output
variables is the voter party identification which, in a
manner similar to brand loyalty, denotes an attachment
to the party, and therefore also to its candidates.
5. Feedback processes.
Similarly, in applying voter behaviour approaches to
consumer behaviour, one might follow the approaches
of Learfield.-et al.(1948) and Campbell, et al. (1966)
and postulate that consumer behaviour is determined by
socioeconomic status and psychological makeup. More
specifically, one can follow Lane's (1965) model, and
describe the consumer decision making process as
including the following three components: stimulus,
organism, and response.
1. The stimuli are symbols which are transmitted to the
consumer from his social environment (e.g., the
community, media, family, ethnic group, social class,
marketing channels) about the product or service in
question.
2. The organism is the consumer receiving such stimuli,
screening them through his perceptual and attitudinal
screens in order to reach predispositions to respond
toward the product or the service.
3. Responses include such actions as purchasing,
expressing an opinion about the attitudinal object,
reading and listening to messages about the attitudinal
object.
On the basis of the above it is quite clear that voter and
consumer behavior models utilize similar approaches.
Furthermore, it can also be argued that consumer and
voter behavior models are theoretically identical in that
they utilize the basic SOR paradigm. Such a generic
approach to the study of the voter and the consumer
results in the mutual utilization of other concepts in the
study of consumer and voter behaviour.
Thus, both consumer and voter behaviour scientists
seem to prefer tie use of a middle-range theory
approach in analysing consumers and voters,
respectively, rather than relying on comprehensive
theories that are not yet well articulated. This takes the
form of conducting studies which focus on the
relationship between a fairly defined concept such as
social class, the family, or peer group, or a limited
number of variables such as self-confidence, education,
and dogmatism, and consumer behaviour or voter
behaviour. The hope is that the knowledge accumulated
through such studies will permit more effective theory
construction in the future (Merton, 1957; Ward and
Robertson, 1973).
A summary of such a middle-range theory approach and
findings in the areas of consumer and voter behaviour is
presented in Table 1. An examination of this table
shows that different concepts such as learning,
perception, and social class help to explain consumer
and voter behaviour in similar ways. For example,
learning concepts help to explain the processes by
which consumers and voters develop brand and party
loyalty, respectively; perception contributes to the
explanation of consumer and voter imagery and its
resulting influence on their behaviour; and social class
helps to explain the purchase of certain products and
voter party orientation.
Table 1 also suggests that the concepts depicted are of
different nature and scope. Learning, perception,
attitudes, personality, and motivation are theoretical
concepts "that derive meaning from their role in the
theory in which they are imbedded and the purposes of
the theory " (Zaltman, Pinson, and Angelmar, 1973). As
these theoretical concepts are commonly employed in
the areas of consumer behaviour and voter behaviour
for the same purposes of description, explanation, and
prediction--they offer the researcher a wider universe
for observation, hence increasing observational validity,
a greater opportunity for concept operationalization,
thus increasing content validity, and a basis for
operationalizing concepts, thus improving construct
validity. By offering such opportunities, these
theoretical concepts play an essential role in theory-
building focusing on human behaviour in general, or
subsets of this behaviour. As a result, the proposition
can be advanced that when a theoretical concept can be
applied to more than one role of human behaviour (e.g.,
consumption, voting), its observational validity, content
validity, and construct validity become stronger, thus
strengthening its role in theory building.
On the other hand, concepts and variables such as social
class, family, age, education, and brand loyalty are of a
narrower scope in that they usually represent simple,
singular propositions as to the connection between a
few consumer or voter variables and behaviour.
Although findings of such propositions are valuable,
their share in theory building and pointing out
commonalities of voter and consumer behaviour is not
very profound.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
This paper has examined the applicability of the
concept of marketing in general, and the concept of
consumer behaviour in particular, to the areas of
political marketing and voter behaviour. In both cases,
it was suggested that marketing concepts are quite
applicable to political marketing. Admittedly, by
focusing on the decision-making approach to voter
behaviour, other popular approaches were not given any
exposure. Such approaches are (1) the normative
approach which discusses how the individual should
function as a political creature,
(2) the legal approach which focuses on the individual's
political rights and duties, and
(3) the systems approach which studies the voter's role
in the total political system.
These approaches can represent some conceptual
differences in the structure of consumer and voter
behaviour. Nevertheless, the similarities between
consumer and voter behaviour are still sharp.
BIBLOGRAPHY
1.BLOGSOT
2.RC AGARWAL
3.QOURA
4.WIKIPEDIA

You might also like