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"Branding itself: an introduction" [2019] ELECD 2130; in Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara (ed), "Political Brands" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 1

Book Title: Political Brands

Editor(s): Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Branding itself: an introduction

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

Branding itself: an introduction
"Brand is everything, and everything is brand."1

What do survivors of a mass shooting in Florida, Russian intelligence officers,
Coca-Cola and the president of the United States all have in common? They all
try to influence public opinion using branding, even if what is getting branded
is the truth, a lie, a myth or a conspiracy.

1. COMMERCIAL BRANDS

But before we can explore all of that, we need some shared definitions.
"Branding" is the process of purposefully repeating a word, concept or logo
until it gets stuck in the minds of the public.2 Commercial branding comes from
business entities like partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs) and cor-
porations. Commercial branding is ubiquitous. Nearly from the moment the
average American opens her eyes in the morning to the moment she goes to
sleep, branding is everywhere, from the products in her bathroom to the food
in her kitchen, the vehicles in her garage, the billboards on her commute, the
sign outside her workplace, the product placements on TV and the banner ads
online. Brands are so omnipresent in our lives that they sometimes slip into
genericide. Linguists Julie Sedivy and Greg Carlson, in their book Sold on
Language, provide multiple examples of how brands have become shorthand
for objects in our daily lives:

If you stroll across your linoleum floor over to your formica countertop, check on
the stew in the crock-pot, pick up the spilled kitty litter in the corner with ...