The Phenomenon of Political Marketing

This book provides a survey of the phenomenon of marketing which has become the dogma of America's politicians and their campaign managers. It poses some fundamental questions about how the import of commercial techniques to politics has revolutionized the nature of American democracy.

Inhalt
Introduction: the electronic soapbox; big lies, little lies - the story of propaganda; only in America; television; the peevish penmen - direct mail and US elections; the monopoly of Midas Congress and political action committees; high priesthood, low priestcraft - the role of political consultants; Washington's space cadets - the centrality of polling, computer and other technologies in US politics today; merchandising the monarch - Reagan and the presidential elections; a licence to export - the spread of political marketing methods to Britain; the selling of the President, 1988; an ethical conundrum.