The Marketing of a Political Candidate - Essay Example

The marketing of a political candi The marketing of a presidential candi is the process by which presidential candidates get themselves and their strategies through to the people and have them accept to vote for them as their leaders. There are various mass communication strategies used by presidential candidates. This study aims to detail the mass communication strategies employed by Obama in the 2008 presidential elections: The main strategy presidential candidate’s used in their marketing strategies is the media. The media is the main communication channel through which Obama used to reach his audience in his campaign. The main ways the media Obama used the media was by giving his information to the people and letting them have his views on various issues. The presentation of information in the media elicited a response by the public to support him. Obama used the media to change the views of the people on various issues and made them vote him for as their president. Obama used the media to direct the public, as he believed the public needed direction through information. This led to the swaying of the public to his side and he won their votes through giving his views on certain issues in the country to the public. The information given to the media was appropriate for his election ambitions and covered the issues he addressed fully. The second way by which Obama used the media as a marketing strategy was being in touch with the people through his message. Obama through the media, which include radio, television, print, and film media to repeated his message of again for people to remember and keep in touch with him. This ensures the message reaches a variety of people and gets them to vote for them for believing the issue due to numerous repetitions. President Obama who campaigned on the platform for change in every campaign he stood to speak. This led to many people associating him with change leading to his election as president due to the repetition of the message to the people. The other strategy employed by Obama is branding in the media and mass communication channels. Obama developed an image of himself using campaign slogans, logo, and created an identity associated with him for the people. This reached the people in the form of print, video, radio, internet, and television. It improved people's understanding of Obama’s personality and the qualities he had to be their president. Internet and the social media are another strategy employed by Obama in the 2008 presidential campaigns in United States. Obama used the internet through the creation of his websites and had twitter and facebook accounts for his campaign campaigns. This led to increased people reached; it offered a platform for Obama to reach his fans, and increased his chances of winning. The use of social networks improved his ability to reach a young generation who are more conversant with technological improvements and interacted more with his fans, hence improved his winning chances. We can therefore conclude that social networks and the internet was the best tool used by President Obama in connecting with the people and a powerful strategy that led to his winning the 2008 election. The other strategy employed by Obama is the issues he presented in the media and mass communication channels. The media channels presented the issues addressed by Obama in a way that appealed to the concerns of the voters, their needs, and their fears of the future. The issues addressed by President Obama, included reducing taxation of the poor, better health care, and change in administration. Obama gave his view, in the media, that he represented the issues of the people. In this way, Obama used print, television, radio, and film media as a tool of making people believe he offered solutions for their problems. The people were convinced of the viability of the solution from the media hence convinced to vote him. The other way mass communication acted as a presidential marketing strategy in the Obama campaign was through creating credibility. Obama aimed made himself plausible to the public while undermining McCain especially through the media in the campaigns and the debates. The media covered Obama’s campaign speeches, videos, and pictures and reported to the people; hence, his credibility of improved. Obama used the media as a means to gain public support on various issues. He gave information to the public, which may not entirely be true but aimed at eliciting public support. An example is the information given on the state of the war in Iraq to gain the support of the public to return the troops from the Iraq by 2012. This Chomsky calls the propaganda in a democratic state’s manipulation of the public to support their views. He revisits the use of propaganda through the media by creating a problem, driving it through informing the public and its use to get a response from the public. Presidential advertising involves politician’s aim of their improved acceptance by the people through the presence in media channels, which include print, television, and film. Obama was a constant feature in all forms of media in his 2008 presidential campaign preceding his election as president. The other use of mass media is information and disinformation by presidential candidates. The media relays information of the presidential candidates to the public and affect the public’s view of the candidate. Correct information improves candidate’s credibility but the use of wrong information leads to disinformation of the public and may help the presidential candidate win the election. This information may not be correct or valid, hence may improve a certain candidates chances of winning the election because the public believe in the media and lack measures of checking the validity. This way, the presidential candidate manipulates the media to gain advantage of the people’s believe in the media for their election. In conclusion, the media has a big influence in the decision of the public electing the president in the United States. The media influences people’s believes, acceptance of the presidential candidate and creates credibility for the candidate. Obama’s effective use of the media in the 2008 presidential election in form of print, video, voice, and television led to his triumph over McCain. The effective use of the internet, propaganda and the social networks also led to his win. Works cited Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become President-Elect retrieved on April 17, 2012 from http://www.dwsmg.com/barack-obama-marketing-guide.html Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda. Seven Stories Press, 2011. Print Lees-Marshment, Jennifer. Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. Taylor & Francis, 2009. Print Newman, Bruce. The marketing of the president: political marketing as campaign strategy. Sage Publications, 1994. Print Sraubhaar, Larose and Davenport. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology. Wadsworth, 2011. Print Read More