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"When branding gets pernicious" [2019] ELECD 2139; in Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara (ed), "Political Brands" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 167

Book Title: Political Brands

Editor(s): Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Part III

Section Title: When branding gets pernicious

Number of pages: 1

Extract:

PART III



When branding gets pernicious


Branding could be used for good to sell useful products to a thriving consumer
base. But all too frequently, the techniques of branding are used for pernicious
purposes, particularly in politics. For instance, President Trump has deployed
the repetitive use of catchphrases to denigrate the free press. By calling legit-
imate journalists "fake news" and the "enemy of the people," and by sharing
bogus news stories as if they are real, he has undermined the status of journal-
ists in the minds of his most ardent followers.
Branding was also used during the 2016 campaign to manipulate voters.
Some of this was done by the Trump campaign's partner Cambridge Analytica,
which purported to be able to predict voters' psychological proclivities. And
a tactic of the Russian Internet Research Agency, which was actively interfer-
ing in the 2016 election, was to destroy the credibility of journalism.
Another source of manipulation in the 2016 election was the targeting by
Russian intelligence officers of racial minorities for voter suppression efforts.
In particular, the Russians created an entire online mirage for Black voters
which perpetuated the message that African American voters should not vote
at all. This mirage included fake Facebook pages, fake Instagram accounts,
fake Twitter personalities and fake webpages. The Russians essentially built
an entire echo chamber through clever branding where the core message was
to skip the 2016 election if you were Black. Because 90 percent of Blacks are
Democrats, this tactic of voter ...