Civil society is defined here as including community based organization, traditional leaders, implementing NGO’s, Unions, business associations, religious organizations, independent media, student groups, cooperatives and other associational groupings. Civil society’s role in decentralized and democratic governance may be viewed to have four major functions as follows,
i) As an advocacy for representing interests of their constituencies.
ii) In service delivery in education, health and other sectors.
iii) As a partner with government in development planning, in promoting understanding of the decentralization system and in other areas.
iv) As watchdog over government.
However, these roles are not played by all civil societies’ actors or at all times-nor are these civil society functions always clean or rigid. Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organization, community groups, women’s organizations, faith based organization, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associates, coalitions and advocacy groups and so forth.
Civil society as advocacy
Advocacy is generally viewed as a primary role of civil society. Often time, civil society groups building coalitions amongst themselves to advocate for policies. For instance, in Zimbabwe MISA Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Lawyers for human Rights challenged the application of POSA and AIPPA. These two among to be mentioned civil society advocated for the liberalization of the Zimbabwean media from heavy government controlling rules and laws. This is both a means for weak organizations together sufficient strength to address state authorities as well as a bottom up consensus building effort (Charlick 2003)
Civil society groups do confront authorities for specific policy change, but sometimes these are not always well received or have positive outcome. In Zimbabwe media organization such as MISA Zimbabwe, MMPZ, WOZA and so forth confronted the government of Zimbabwe to repeal POSA, AIPPA and so on. Therefore, in general civil society groups have had success in influencing the central government to improve the environment and conditions in which they operate.
Furthermore, civil society plays a major role in the social relation of the media and the audiences. In Latin America in 1983, social movements of different kinds were involved in bringing down the authoritarian regimes. Community based protest contributed to discrediting and delegitimizing the Pinochet regime of Chile. In Zimbabwe, Non-governmental organization has collaborated with members of the publics to fight against the hostile ZANU PF government. The social relation of the ordinary citizens has been greatly influenced by the NGO’s and private media which play a watchdog role such as Financial Gazette and The Independent.
In addition,, civil society in its service delivery role works together with the government of the day to improve the living conditions of the public. Privatization of certain government service has led to opportunities for both private businesses and civil society organization to increase their service delivery role at all levels of government. In Pelengana, for example, the commune has worked with women’s groups on sanitation service delivery and has established a system to provide financial resources. In Zimbabwe Musasa project works to assist women to be represented in the community. The doctors with borders have worked hard to improve the community’s health. Other NGO’s such as CARO International, ORAP, OCRAST, OXFARM, CONCERN and so forth have assisted immensely to provide food to the starving communities around the country in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, many international NGO have eschewed advocacy activities but have helped strengthen local partners in service delivery from identifying needs to professional standards of service. Many civil society/NGO have now become adept in service delivery and cover many domains. For instance, community mobilization, enterprise development, health education, micro-finance and so forth.
Civil society plays the watchdog role and contributes immensely to the political economy of the mass media. In a democratic system, civil society plays key role as a watchdog over the workings and effectiveness of the state and elected officials. This starts with election monitoring but is far more extensive and includes regular control of policies, priority setting, implementation, equity, budget allocations and service delivery effectiveness. For example, in Zimbabwe ZESN played a crucial role in educating journalist on how to report and to interview political members representing their parties in March 2008 harmonized elections. However, it should be noted that, “the civil society watchdog role in a decentralized system is not only critical at the central government level, but also for the regional and local level”.
Ideally, decentralization as a system of government confers on civil society the important role of controlling/monitoring critiquing government initiative to all strata of society. For example, in Zimbabwe MISA Zimbabwe have criticized the government for brutalizing and arresting journalist from independent papers for exposing the hostility caused by the ruling party supporters. In addition, MISA as a civil society have pressured the government to do away with ruthless media laws such as POSA, AIPPA, OSA and so forth. A call for licensing of independent foreign media and Independent media regulating board to replace MIC is the critique and pressure the Zimbabwean government has been facing. On the other hand, MMPZ as civil society have documented and criticized the government for using hate speech to fail an “All Inclusive government”. Hence basing from the above contribution in critical political economy civil society plays a watchdog role to expose, defend and safeguard the rights of the local citizens.
Many civil society groups are potentially constrained in their watchdog role by lack of independence or a partisan political outlook. With civil society getting much of their funding from external donors, this may very likely influence the issues they stress and the issues they avoid very frequently. The press is also be made through provision of transport and per diem or pay of production costs. For example, during March 2006 workshop held in Bamako on International foreign aid effectiveness organized by the Africa development Bank (ADB) journalist made it clear to the organizers that without payment for transport costs, they would not attend the event. After ADB agreed to make one transport payment for each press group attending the event, one group did their best to collect for more than one person attending.
Curran (2000) defines civic media as a media sector consisting of channels of communication linked to organized groups and social networks intended to facilitate the expression of dissenting and minority views. It supports organizations that are the life force of democracy. The organizations include political parties, new social movements, interest groups and sub-cultural networks that relay the concerns of society and propose policy initiatives for consideration by the political system. Civic organization are important in parliamentary democracies in need of democratic rejuvenation and where political parties have a pivotal position as organizations that aggregate interests, distribute costs, define electronic choices and offer channels of general (rather than single issue) influence.
On the other hand, civil society consists of the interested parties and organizations calling for democratic rule through the use of media’s creation of a public sphere as well as adherence to the principal democratic role of the media acting as a check on the state, as the Fourth Estate. Curran (2000) argues that the media should monitor the full range of state activities and fearlessly expose abuses of official authority. Dahlgren (1991) asserts that the public sphere is a concept, which in today’s society points to the issues of how and to what extent the mass media especially in their journalistic role can help citizens learn about the world, debate their responses to it, and reach informed decisions about what courses of action to adopt.
Civic society calls for a more liberal atmosphere which the media must operate. Dahlgren (1991) argues that according to classical liberal theory, the public sphere (or in more traditional terminology, public forum) is the space between government and society in which private individuals exercise formal and informal control over the state through the election of governments and the pressure of public opinion. The media are central to this process as they distribute the information necessary for citizens to make an informed choice at election time. They also facilitate the formation of public opinion by providing an independent forum of debate enabling people to shape the conduct of government by articulating their views. In this regard civic society views as an aggregation of individuals and government as the seat of power, with the nexus between the state and individuals as the key social relationship that need to be policed by an ever vigilant media which is on permanent guard duty, patrolling against the abuse of executive power and safeguarding individual liberty.
Civic society’s argument is that the media should brief the electorate and assist voters to make an informed choice at election time. They argue the media to provide a channel of communication between governments and governed, which helps society to clarify its objectives, formulate policy, co-ordinate activity and manage itself. In the liberal view, through the free market, it secures the media’s independence as an inclusive debate. The freedom of the market, it secures the media’s independence as an intermediary, generating wide ranging and inclusive debate. The freedom of the market allows anyone to publish an opinion and this ensures that all significant points of views are aired and also that information is made available from varied sources, extending participation in public debate. Good governance is also fostered, because decision-making processes are exposed to the interplay of apposed opinion. Barron 91995:3200 quotes the American jurist Oliver Holmes who declared in a much quoted statement, that “the best test of the truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market..
Gramsci (1971) sees what he calls civil society as having the responsibility for the production, reproduction, and transformation of hegemony, while the state is responsible for the use of coercion. This is a fairly simple and direct equation whereby the state exercises repression and civil society exercise hegemony. In addition, hegemony operates culturally and ideologically through the institutions of civil society which characterize mature liberal-democratic capitalist societies. These institutions include education, the family, church, the mass media, popular culture and so forth. Civil society in critical political economy is the way Gramsci (1971) locates the place of culture and ideology within societies, and hegemony is the way he tries to understand how they work.
In critical political economy Gramsci 91971) states that the liberal-democratic societies of western capitalism are different in that they have relatively weaker states and much more extensive and complicated civil societies which strengthen the hegemony of the dominant groups. In this situation, a war of position rather than a war of position rather than war of movement becomes the strategy to be adopted by revolutionary socialist forces. This involves a long, protracted and uneven struggle over the hegemonic hold of the dominant group, and is eventual replacement by the hegemony of the subordinate groups aspiring to power and the radical transformation of society. According to Gramsci (1971) he says that, in critical political economy the revolutionary forces have to take civil society before they take the state, and therefore have to build a coalition of oppositional groups united under a hegemonic banner which usurps the dominant or prevailing hegemony.
Gramsci (1971) write that the nature of civil society make sure of this;
“Civil society has become a very complex structure and one which is resistant to the catastrophic incursion of the immediate economic element (crises, depression and so forth). The superstructures of civil society are like the trench systems of modern warfare. In war it would sometimes happen that a fierce artillery attack seemed to have destroyed the enemy’s entire defensive system, whereas in fact it had only destroyed the outer perimeter…”. The same thing happens in politics, during the great economic crises” (Gramsci 1971:235)
Keane (1988a:33-6) suggests that the political dichotomy of left and right is not very helpful in sorting out this history and developing a modern and progressive understanding of civil society. In critical political economy, while we may find in Gramsci something of a useable tripartite model of state, civil society and economy, most of the Marxian tradition has tended to collapse civil society into bourgeois society, thereby dismissing it as the domain of ideology. And as the blueprint for the organization of society, the meshing of social life with the political life has not met with much historical success. Dahlgren (1995:126) states that in critical political economy of mass communication, the right today tries to equate civil society with the space where the private citizen can pursue his or her individualism, free from the interventionism of the state, thereby turning the concept into an argument for neo-liberal tradition, starting with Mill and de Tocqueville, have put politics before economic and appropriately warned that the state can abuse its power, engulf and smoother civil society, and undo the fragile progress towards democratizations.
In critical political economy of mass media Dahlgren (1995:128) states that civil society is thus created through various forms of self-constitution and self-mobilization. For Cohen and Aarato, civil society stands in a dialectical relationship to the political; the political role of civil society is seen not as aiming for the direct control of political power,… but to the generation of influence through the life of democratic associations and unconstrained discussion in the cultural public sphere. Ideally, civil society would function in a similar mediating way vis-à-vis economic society but, under capitalist relations, this vector is obviously less pronounced.
In critical political economy, civil society functions along side with the Neo-Marxist. Hence Dahlgren (1995:127) states that “the domain of civil society is characterized by legal frameworks to guarantee basic rights and to secure pluralism, publicity and privacy from the state, and, at least partially, from the economy. In this regard, they follow Gramsci’s three part model. Cohen and Arato’s orientation is towards the institutional aspects of civil society. In their views, civil society is institutionally composed chiefly of:
(i) The intimate sphere especially the family)
(ii) The sphere of associations (in particular, voluntary associations)
(iii) The many forms of public communication.
Strinati (1995) states that hegemony operates culturally and ideologically through the institutions of civil society which characterize mature liberal-democratic, capitalist societies. These institutions include education, the family, the church, the mass media, popular culture and so forth. Furthermore, civil society is the way Gramsci locates the place culture and ideology within societies, and hegemony is the way he tries to understand how they work.
Curran (1997) further argues that the watchdog perspective is commended for assuming that democracies need informed and participant citizens to manage their common affairs and believes that public debate is more likely to produce rational and just outcomes if it takes account of different views and interest, in some form of active self determination, reasoned debate and social inclusion.
Conclusively, it can be argued that civil society’s plays a salient role in critical political economy of media as public sphere through which the masses can discuss the issues that can influence the way they are govern by the elite. Again Gramsci (1971) ,views civil societies as having the responsibility for production, reproduction, and transformation of hegemony, while the state in responsible for the use of coercion. In Zimbabwe clear example for civil society groups such as MISA, MMPZ, WOZA, Doctors without Boarders, Zimbabwe Crisis and Coalition, Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions ZFTU and so forth, fight along side with the masses for social change. While some civil society’s are media oriented others are for human rights and democracy and they play a pivotal role in critical political economy of mass communication. The civil society fight for democracy and to reinforce strong social relations in the society. According to Gramsci (1971) civil society locates the place of culture and ideology within societies
References
Dahlgren P (1995) Television and the Public Sphere. British. Sage
Char lick R (2003) “Institutional Dynamics in Contemporary Mali- A study of the context for the impact of citizen advocacy world Education report, January 2003.
Norberto B (1988) Gramsci and the concept of civil society in Keane (ed) Democracy and civil society, Verso. London.
Downing J.D.H et al (2004) the Sage handbook of media studies. Sage. London
Hill.D; Class, the crisis of neo-liberal Global Capital, and the role of education and knowledge Workers. Saturday 28 march 2009 PDF
Strinati D (1995) An Introduction to theories of popular culture. Rout ledge. London
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
What is political marketing? Outline and critical discuss, birth, growth and current status of political marketing.
In this paper definition of political marketing will be explored. The term “political marketing”, is a compounding term that consist of two words bound together. The two words can be defined separately. Thus the term “marketing” and “politics” will be defined separately and then eventually the two terms will be compound together to give a concrete definition that is functional. However, the birth when this concept actually started, its growth that is the expansion of the concept up to the current moment and its current status across the globe will be outline and critical debated upon using various schools of thoughts. Clear local examples will be given for and against in order to explore the whole concept of political marketing.
The American Marketing Association (AMA): defines the term “marketing” as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals." In addition, the World Marketing Association (WMA): defines “marketing as the core business philosophy which directs the processes of identifying and fulfilling the needs of individuals and organizations through exchanges which create superior value for all parties.” Chapman (2003) defines “marketing” as the management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” Basing from the above definitions “marketing” can be general defined as the means of solving customer’s problems profitable. Marketing in political marketing has borrowed the marketing techniques for spreading the ideologies of political actors, individuals and parties. For instance, in Zimbabwe during the March 2008 harmonized election political parties such as ZANU PF, MDC T, MDC and The Mavambo/Sekusile employed several marketing techniques to wean people to vote for them. The good examples were the political advertisement like hundred percent empowerment by ZANU PF. Again the portrayal of political figures such as Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai in public media and President Robert Mugabe in privately owned papers like The Standard and Financial Gazette.
Another important term “politics” can be defined as the study and conduct of decision-making power (who's got it, and who hasn't) at the inter-social and societal levels. Some even use the term politology. At whatever scale, politics is the rather imperfect way that we actually do coordinate individual actions for mutual (or strictly personal) gain. Furthermore, to win a political conflict always implies that one has taken power away from one group or faction to give it to another. Most would also acknowledge that political conflict can easily degrade to zero-sum games, with little learned or settled by conflict other than "who won and who lost": Another scholar Lenin said that politics was about "who could do what to whom" (Russian "Kto-Kogo" for "Who-Whom"). As political scientist Harold Lasswell said, politics is "who gets what, when and how." It also concerns how we resolve moral conflicts that are sufficiently serious that they constitute a risk of social disruption - in which case commitment to a common process of arbitration or diplomacy tends to reduce violence - usually viewed as a key goal of civilization. Bernard Crick is a major theorist of this view and also of the idea that politics is itself simply "ethics done in public", where public institutions can agree, disagree, or intervene to achieve a desirable culmination or comprehensive (process) result. For example, in Zimbabwe there are several political parties that use marketing techniques to gain the support of the public. ZANU PF, MDC T and MDC, currently are the two vibrant political parties that use various tactics to gunner support from the masses in Zimbabwe
Commercial marketing is “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating,
Communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (AMA 2004). Marketing has the
Two fold factors of organizational function and organizational processes, whereas it was
previously perceived predominantly as a process. This represents the growth of dedicated
marketing functions within organizations, and also demonstrates the broader acceptance of
marketing as an equal to accounting or research and development.
The compounding of two terms “political marketing”, which is effectively the application of commercial marketing to the political process has been defined in numerous ways by a range of authors over the past two decades, including the works of Gronroos (1990 in O’Shaughnessy, 2001), Harrop (1990),Clemente (1992 in Butler and Collins, 1994), O’Cass (1996a, 1996b), Lock and Harris (1996) and so forth. Political marketing comes from the works of Gronroos (1990 in O’Shaughnessy, 2001) who defines it as “seeking to establish, maintain and enhance long term voter relationships at a profit for society and political parties so that the objectives of the individual political actors and organisations involved are met”. Clemente (1992 in Butler and Collins, 1994), defines political marketing as “the marketing of ideas and opinions which relate to public or political issues or to specific candidates. In general, political marketing is designed to influence people’s votes in elections”.
In addition, O’Cass (1996a, 1996b) sought to portray political marketing as “the analysis, planning, implementation and control of political and electoral
programs designed to create, build and maintain beneficial exchange relationships between a
party and voters for the purpose of achieving the political marketers objectives”. Furthermore, Lock and Harris (1996) went for a dichotomous version of academic political marketing
discourse as being “the study of the processes of exchanges between political entities and their
environment and among themselves with particular reference to the position of those entities
and their communications”, and a slightly more workable practical definition of political
marketing as an activity, where “it is concerned with strategies for positioning and
communications, and the methods through which these strategies may be realised, including
the search for information into attitudes, awareness and response of the target audience.”
Newman (1999 in Newman 2002) brings political marketing back to the basics as “the
application of marketing principles and procedures in political campaigns by various
individuals and organizations”. Interestingly, the definition expands the procedural element of political marketing as “…the analysis, development, execution and management of strategic campaigns by candidates, political parties, governments, lobbyists and interest groups that seek to drive public opinion, advance their own ideologies, win elections and pass legislation and referenda in response to the needs and wants of selected people and groups in society” (Newman 1999). Lees-Marshment (2001) again brings the concept forward as an adaptation of commercial marketing, arguing that “political marketing is about political organizations adapting business marketing concepts and techniques to help achieve their goals…[to] conduct market intelligence to identify the concerns of those they serve change their behavior to meet those demands and communicate their 'product offering' more effectively. O’Shaughnessy (2001) brings three definitions to the debate, their own definition of political marketing as “a structure of business derived labels to explain, map, nuance and condense the exchange dynamics of an election campaign; offering the possibility for new perspectives for interpreting elections”. They also raise the Gronroos (1990) definition cited above, along with
Harrop’s (1990) conceptualization where political marketing was “essentially a form of services
marketing: marketing a party consists in projecting a belief in its ability to govern”. Finally,
Henneberg (2004) refines and re-emphasizes the exchange protocol with the short working
definition of political marketing as “facilitating the societal process of political exchange”.
In order to compare the existing definitions of political marketing against the commercial
marketing definition, the AMA (2004) definition has been divided into six components
categories. “organizational function”, “set of processes”, “set of processes for creating,
communicating and delivering value to customers”, “set of processes for managing customer
relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” and a brief overview of
“organisation and stakeholders”. However, whilst the components of a definition can be
isolated and analyzed independently, the definition still remains a sum of the component parts,
and will be subjected to a final holistic interpretation to examine its applicability to the political
marketing process.
Kelley (1956) is generally credited for being the first person to use the term political marketing. The US literature identifies John Beckley, a member of the campaign team around Thomas Jefferson as one of the first political consultants, though similar roles can no doubt be identified much earlier in other societies. The rise of political marketing in the recent past has been attributed to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty, and changes in the political and electoral systems. In particular, scholars have identified the expansion of the media, particularly television as having had a significant impact. There is evidence to suggest that political marketing has contributed to improved communication between the politicians and voters. Especially apparent in the popular and academic literature on both political marketing and political communication is the occupation with image and how much or little it affects the voter. Often the phenomenon of image in politics is said to have risen because of television. However, image has almost as many meanings as the number of people who use it combined concepts from consumer behavior and political science to create a model of voting
behavior in political marketing terms. So far it has only been tested in a primary election in the USA, so its applicability outside such settings has yet to be shown. Most of the literature is concerned with what marketers would view as tactical issues, though Butler and Collins (1996) show the impact of strategy and its importance in governing the direction of the campaign. Most of the electoral markets of the West are mature, the players are established and the positions are set ( Harris:2006).
Birth of Political Marketing
The emergence of political marketing analysis has its roots in a debate initiated by a pair of leading management theorist over twenty five years ago (Wring 1996). Wring (1996) asserts that, with the publication of their ground breaking analysis of non-profit organization, Kotler and Levy (1969) found themselves in the vanguard of a group of marketing scholars committed to challenge their subjects traditionally narrow preoccupation with commercial activity. Lazer and Levy (1969) in their seminal piece the two authors argued that, “… the crux of marketing lies in a general idea of exchange rather than the narrower idea of market transaction. In Britain mass electioneering developed during the course of the nineteenth century following three major extension of the franchise in 1832, 1867 and 1884. Modern political campaigning dates from 1918 and the advent of near universal suffrage. By 1928 every adult over 21 was assured of at least one vote, regardless of gender or property qualification (Wring 1996). Since then the nature and media of political communication have changed. Terms such as “image marker” and “spin” doctor are now part of the popular electoral lexicon and the phrase “political marketing” has become recognized part of academic discourse. Wring (1996) suggest that a cursory glance at material on the subject in Britain and abroad indicates a steady growth in publication since 1980, and a more marked increase during the 1990’s
Kelley (1956) is generally credited with the first use of the term political marketing. The US
literature identifies John Beckley, a member of the campaign team around Thomas Jefferson as
one of the first political consultants, though similar roles can no doubt be identified much
earlier in other societies.The rise of political marketing in the recent past has been attributed
to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty, and changes in the
political and electoral systems. In particular, scholars have identified the expansion of the
media, particularly television as having had a significant impact. There is evidence to suggest
that political marketing has contributed to improved communication between the politicians
and voters. Especially apparent in the popular and academic literature on both political
marketing and political communication is the occupation with image and how much or little it
affects the voter. Often the phenomenon of image in politics is said to have risen because of
television. However, image has almost as many meanings as the number of people who use it
combined concepts from consumer behavior and political science to create a model of voting
behavior in political marketing terms. So far it has only been tested in a primary election in the
USA, so its applicability outside such settings has yet to be shown. Most of the literature is
concerned with what marketers would view as tactical issues, though Butler and Collins (1996)
show the impact of strategy and its importance in governing the direction of the campaign.
Most of the electoral markets of the West are mature, the players are established and the
positions are set[ Harris:2006].
In political marketing it is important to note that politics borrows much from business marketing concept which is guided by the four P’s, namely products, price, place and promotion. If political marketing is a borrowed ancient, therefore it means that this phenomenon was there way back before it was recognized. America and British scholars which among includes Kotler are the first scholars to initiate this concept of political marketing (Scammell no year). Products in marketing are the first important “P” which can be used similarly in politics. Historically, the think in business world is that good products must sell itself. The same applies in politics where a good party that respects the rights of the citizens and takes care of the needs of its supporters is likely to live longer. Customers are protected by several rights to make the choice of the product they want depending as whether the product is well packaged and suits the demand of the customers. For instance, in Zimbabwe ZANU PF lost votes to their rival MDC Tsvangirai because they failed to suits the needs and wants of the majority of Zimbabwe. ZANU PF did not address the problems that matters most in people’s life and MDC had to capitalize on that. Political parties in this instance are treated as goods that the electorate can make a choice
In addition, price is another aspect that determines the customer’s choice to buy a product. Here customer can decide whether their money is enough for them to purchase a product depending on the quality and quantity of the products. The same applies in politics where the political party appears like the price of a commodity that customers are prepared to pay for. For example in Zimbabwe ZANU PF failed to lure the votes from electorate because the electorates was not prepared to pay for the cost. MDC and Mavambo/Kusile were the other competing products on the shelves that the voters could not sacrifice to buy. Since 1980 people have been supporting the ZANU PF as a party and their needs and wants were not gratified. The price or the compromise that people made since 1980’s was too much for them to bear up with the party. Land was distributed, but not to every one who need it but to the heavy weight supporters which among includes the war veterans and ministers. The ordinary citizens could not stand the cost of the party manifesto and had to go for other parties.
The third “P”which stands for place identifies the place in which a product can be found. In business and marketing goods or products have to be available at the right place, right time and in right quantities. Some of the revolutions in business have come about by changing places. The same applies in politics where people wish to vote for the political party that can address the bread and butter issues when need be. For example in Zimbabwe ZANU PF which used to rule since 1980, could not address peoples needs such as hunger and starvation, lack of jobs, free education and so forth. When people’s needs are not address they loss trust and flare to continue supporting a party. People shifted to MDC and Mavambo/Sokusile with hope that maybe their plight can be addressed. A political party can lose support if it fails complete to satisfy and instill hope to the people’s demands and needs. Those who fall sick could not get medication from the hospital or clinics because there were no medicines even the nurses and doctors were on strike. People of Zimbabwe lost hope to the ZANU PF and thought otherwise MDC might be the solution to their problems.
The fourth and most important “P” is promotion and in business certain organization gain favors for their products because they can persuade and satisfy the customer needs and wants through promotions. Promotion in business look at how are the chosen targeted groups informed or educated about the organization products. This includes all the weapons of marketing such as armory, advertising, selling, sales promotion, public relations and so forth. Promotion has become the most important “P” to focus on. The same can be applied in politics where political parties have to inform their supporters about their manifesto which addresses the people’s problems. In Zimbabwe promotion is done by all the political parties and the good example is the presidential scholarships to Fort Hare, Cuba, Malaysia and China. Land allocation and the distribution of inputs to the farmers is another promotion in politics. ZANU PF in the past used to educate the children of the war veterans and doctors, chiefs and university intellectuals were given cars so that they can remain loyal to the party. MDC on the other hand, could send their party members oversees, pay for their studies abroad as a way of instilling trust from their followers.
It can be noted that in political marketing campaigns by political parties and donations given to different social group such as the donation of computers to rural schools were there is no electricity, initiating of policies such as the domestic bill to product women, giving land to neighboring country leadership such as Bingo WaMutarika and inviting leaders from other African countries like Mandela in 1990 is a campaigning strategy that can be equated to promotion. It can therefore be argued that political marketing as a phenomenon borrows heavily on marketing concept. This phenomenon could have existed way back before it was recognized.
In addition, one of the earliest and most important studies of professional election campaigning appeared in the mid 1950’s written by American academic Stanley Kelly, “Profession Public Relations and Political Power” in 1956 examine development in political communication including the launch and evolution of the first full service consultancy campaign during the 1930’s. Significantly his study was probably the first to make use of the phrase “Political marketing”. Aside from the growth in specialist literature on electioneering in the United States, several scholars in other countries have begun research into development in and around their regions. Unlike the American research which is increasingly sub-divided and focused on specific cases or campaign activities such as polling or advertising techniques together under the generic term “political marketing”. The fact that several independent scholars from different democracies have recognize the growth of this phenomenon over the last two decades tend to reinforce the belief that there is a major change taking place in the way modern elections are conducted.
Furthermore, large amount of the non-American material on political marketing has been produced by researchers in Europe. Several French writers have been to the fore in this development. These include Lindon who completed his study “marketing politique et social”, in the 1970’s (Lindo 1976). In 1980 a group of French scholars including Charlotte, David and Piotet convened at Liege University to consider the growing importance of the phenomenon in Western Europe (Piotet et al, 1980) Wanger has pioneered the study of political marketing in German and in Italy Mazzoleni investigated the growth of political marketing, whilst a pair of experts have charted developments in Spain (Roce and Rives, 1982)
Again other research completed on political marketing includes material from countries as far afield as Canada (Leiss et al, 1990) Australia (Piffen, 1989) New Zealand (Denmark, 1991) and Columbia (Salazar Vargas, 1994). Judging from the above mentioned examples it is clear that political marketing is an old phenomenon that has been used and studied. However, nothing much is heard about how much impact this phenomenon hat to the African continent. It can be argued that political marketing is a technique that is used across the globe. There are some schools of thought like Wring (1996) who strongly believe that political marketing was first used by African nationalist such as Nkwame Nkrumah in the early 1960’s. What is amazing is that despite the use of this phenomenon in Africa no studies have been conducted. South Africa which had its election used this technique of political market at global scale. Technological advancement such as satellite television/channels, internet, news groups and conglomerate media have assisted immensely African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and many others to cast their party ideology using political marketing strategy. This probably indicates that currently political marketing is operating at global scale due to new media technology.
Political marketing implies the usage of marketing tools, techniques and methods in political
Process (Menon, 2008). However, Menon (2008) asserts that in other words, political marketing is the outcome of the marriage between marketing and politics. As an activity and method, it reflects the penetration of the political space by marketing. Political advertising, Celebrity endorsements, involvement of professional consultants and campaign managers, online campaigning, mobile phone canvassing, segmentation, micro targeting and so forth are some of the methods extensively used in political marketing (Menon 2008). Though political marketing is increasingly used in democratic political systems in which mass support is significantly important to sustain power; military rulers also use marketing strategy to build their branded image. The influence of professional marketing has affected the working style of political parties. Parties became more market oriented and began to frame there programs and policies in tune with opinion polls and market surveys. Information revolution and globalization have played a vital role in changing the pattern and content of traditional political campaigning into one of the most professional and sophisticated marketing tactics. It is argued that if a political party implements the marketing philosophy, it will seek to meet voters needs and wants, thus producing voter satisfaction, and in doing so gain electoral support to meet its own goals.[Marshment:2006]
Political marketing in Britain
Margaret Thatcher’s leadership proved to be the watershed in the development of political marketing in Britain. Elected Conservative leaders in 1975, Thatcher set out to rejuvenate a party demoralized by defeat in the two general elections of 1974. Within four years a revitalized organization had established a close working relationship with advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi. Wring (1996) says that there is evidence that the political marketing concept shaped the manifesto and electoral strategy in all three elections under Lady Thatcher’s leadership. Following their emphatic 1979 victory the Conservative continued to re-organize their campaign machinery In 1981 Central office employed Christopher Lawson to head a new marketing department. Judging from the evidence fore fronted above, it is therefore clear that political marketing techniques is an old phenomenon which can be traced as far back as Thatcher’s time, or perhaps even before her days. This phenomenon had grown immensely up to the present moment where it is globalised.
Nevertheless, the impact and enduring importance of political marketing in Britain has been most comprehensively documented in the wealth of material which has appeared in the run-up to and after the 1992 general elections. For instance, while Harrop’s (1990)’s critical; review of the subject matter in Parliamentary Affairs, O’Shaughnessy (1990) uses a chapter to contrast British and American electioneering. Television producer Rees cover similar ground to Bruce in part of selling politics, a book based on the BBC “Time Watch” series of the same name (Rees, 1992)
Currant status of political marketing
Political marketing as a phenomenon has spread its tentacles. As a concept this approach put the customer at the beginning rather than at the end of production cycle (Barker, 1991). For instance, in Canada there are now two types of national political consultants. Party consultants have commandeered the authority once held by regional officials. Despite increasing presence of political consultants, all indications are that Canadian elections promotional activities are relatively static. (Marland 2003). Classical political marketing, at the national level have professional produced television advertisements’, media relations experts who wage spin control, and planned events such as leader tours and television debates (Marland2002). Classical political marketing nowadays enables the canvassing of electors to identify supporters by telephone, instead of on the doorsteps, although advertising still typically includes signage, brochures, and community newspapers in Canada. Perhaps the most visible modernization in recent years has been parties’ mediocre websites that provide daily campaign updates and which are sometimes mirrored by candidates’ amateurish online presence.
American-style political marketing is creeping into Canadian electioneering. The use of five classic and five newer marketing techniques, such as comparative advertising, celebrity endorsement, and permanent campaign are explored, while technological innovations such as internet campaigning, rob calls, and video imaging are also witnessed as an indication of the status of political marketing in Canada. Moreso, in Zimbabwe the main political parties such as ZANU PF and two MDC parties have electronic websites that reflects the structure, mandate, advertisement and manifesto of their parties. Through public media and the private media such as The Standard, Independent had political advertisements that were flighted in March 2008, during the harmonized elections. Perhaps what can be queried about Zimbabwe is the lack of effective implementation of political marketing techniques, which may be cause by lack of democracy. Political marketing is only vibrant in countries where there is democracy. The use of marketing concept in political marketing which includes 4 P’s thus products, price, place and promotion was never used effectively in Zimbabwe in March 2008 harmonized elections. In South Africa, in the recent election marketing concept were used by all the political parties and the choice of Jacob Zuma as the new elected president shows that people still have faith and trust with ANC. The ANC was effectively branded and a lot of money was poured in to campaign which could be the other reason for their victory.
Celebrity endorsements
In commercial marketing, celebrity are paid t endorse products in an effort to transfer the celebrity’s qualities. Similarly, American and British politicians regularly socialize with the range of entertainment stars, together choreographing photo-ops to augment each others profile. In Zimbabwe, after the inauguration of Tsvangirai and Mutambara, certain artists were there to entertain and endorse the “All inclusive government”. In South Africa recently the newly elected president Jacob Zuma came on the satellite television dancing with re-owned South Africa musician. For example, Mudumo African program that comes out every week. During elections, Republicans and Democratic campaigns are endorsed by who’s who list of Hollywood types, some whom are actually Canadians, such as star Treks Williams Shatner’s recent involvement in an Ohio gubernatorial campaign. In Zimbabwe during the 1980’s the coming of Bob Marley and Soul Brothers was a celebrity endorsement which indicate the growth of political marketing which started in 1980’s or even way back around 1960’s in Africa after its recognition in Europe.
However, celebrities have a low profile in Canadian federal elections. Perhaps the last time they were widely involved was during the failed 1992 Charlotte town Accord referendum where electors widely rejected elites. One respondent suggested that, since then Canadian strategists believe that quasi-celebrities such as bank CEO’s have only narrow appeal and can actually do more harm than good. As for Canadian entertainers, because so many achieve stardom only after they have left the country, it is considered difficult to source the support of Hollywood-type celebrities. Marland (2003) state that “one party consultant put it,” parties seek endorsements from credible people who allow you to say that you have growth potential”.
Erdogan (1999) notes that in Canada it is quite the opposite in the constituencies where in 2000 and 2002 candidates received endorsements from local musicians, athletes, politicians, minority groups leaders, as well as electors fitting demographic profiles. These political celebrities leverage their media status in an attempt to raise the profile of the party’s local candidate, to build moral among volunteers, and to generate local campaign momentum.
In addition, political marketing strategy has permeated every sphere of life and media. Malicious election advertising often explicitly targets the weaknesses of competing parties or candidates. These highly emotional broadcast advertisement accentuated issues and policy shortcomings, or attack the personal character of an opponent. They are an vogue among political consultants because, although electors say that they do not like the practice they are more likely to recall negative rather than positive messages. Moreover, controversial advertisement can also attract news coverage, and going negative is often thought necessary to effectively counter an opponent’s negatively. In Zimbabwe this technique is witnessed quite often. Pictures of politicians in newspapers appear differently with negative connotation to de-campaign each other. For instance, Tsvangirai’s portrait in public media and President Mugabe in privately owned papers. The progressive Conservatives infamously mocked Liberal leader Jean Chretien’s face paralysis in their 1993 advertisement and in 1997 the Reform Party’s advertising sneered at Quebec politicians. Despite the public debate that followed the 2000 campaign saw the PC’s label the liberals are liars, while the Liberal Party was busy slugging the “hidden agenda” of the leader of the Canadian Alliance.
Internet campaign:
Use of internet as an emerging political marketing tool enables the political parties to segment their supporters. The internet’s economical integration of interactive visuals, sound and data suggest that it may revolutionize election campaigning. Presently, may Americans campaigns purchase banner advertising on popular websites, send unsolicited electronic mails to electors, and use e-commerce software to accept donations online. Kipper (1993) say that, in Canadian politics, the internet is used to displace otherwise costly communication, and is starting to be used for get-out-the –vote efforts. In Zimbabwe the main political parties have the websites through which one can surf. The only problem is that some of the website are not updated and only few citizens access the website. However, lack of an online presence by any of the political parties during the 2000 election campaigns is indicative in Canadian electioneers’ skepticism about the World Wide Web. Banners advertising were used only somewhat by two parties, email had an almost exclusive internal office function, and online donations were an almost exclusive internal office function, and online donations were an after thought. Despite considerable technological changes, Canadian parties’ use of the internet in 2000 was not much different from the 1997 campaign, although by comparison news media website stores substantial content.
It can therefore be concluded that political marketing is a compounding term, which is derived from two independent entities thus “politics” plus “marketing”. Politics in short can be defined as “who gets what, when and how”. In addition, it is the study and conduct of decision making power. “Marketing” on the other hand can be shortly defined as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas. It is mainly concerned with four “P”, that is products, pricing, place and promotion. Therefore it can be summarized that the term “political marketing” can be defined broadly by scholars such as Gronroos (1990), Harrop (1996), Clement, Newman (1999) and so forth. Political marketing borrows heavily from marketing and uses the marketing concepts. Kelly (1956) is credited for being the first to use the term “political marketing” (Venu 2008). Again the rise of political marketing has been attributed to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty and changes in the political and electoral system. Currently, political marketing has been globalised and certain techniques such as celebrity endorsement, internet campaign, political branding, advertisement and so forth are used to gain the support of the masses towards a certain political party.
References
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Butler, P. and Collins, N (1994) “Political marketing: Structure and process”, European
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Darroch, J et al. (2004) “The AMA definition of marketing and its relationship to a market orientation: An extension of Cooke, Rayburn.
Gabbot, M. (ed) (2004) Introduction to marketing: A value exchange approach. France.
Gronroos, C. (1990) “Marketing re-defined”, Management Decision 28 (8)
Harris, P.l and Lock, A. (1996), "Machiavellian Marketing: The Development of
Corporate Lobbying in the UK", Journal of Marketing Management, (in press).Harris, M.W (2005) Marketing the mayor: political marketing and the election campaign, Government and Public Affairs.
Harrop, M. (1990), Political Marketing Parliamentary Affairs, Oxford University Press
Henneberg S .C (2004) Political Marketing Theory: Hendiadyoin or Oxymoron, University
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Kotler P. (1994): Marketing: analiza, planowanie, wdraKaniei kontrola, Warszawa.
Kotler P. – Anderson A. R. (1987): Strategic marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, Englewood http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=aristot.+ath.+pol.+F1
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The American Marketing Association (AMA): defines the term “marketing” as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals." In addition, the World Marketing Association (WMA): defines “marketing as the core business philosophy which directs the processes of identifying and fulfilling the needs of individuals and organizations through exchanges which create superior value for all parties.” Chapman (2003) defines “marketing” as the management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” Basing from the above definitions “marketing” can be general defined as the means of solving customer’s problems profitable. Marketing in political marketing has borrowed the marketing techniques for spreading the ideologies of political actors, individuals and parties. For instance, in Zimbabwe during the March 2008 harmonized election political parties such as ZANU PF, MDC T, MDC and The Mavambo/Sekusile employed several marketing techniques to wean people to vote for them. The good examples were the political advertisement like hundred percent empowerment by ZANU PF. Again the portrayal of political figures such as Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai in public media and President Robert Mugabe in privately owned papers like The Standard and Financial Gazette.
Another important term “politics” can be defined as the study and conduct of decision-making power (who's got it, and who hasn't) at the inter-social and societal levels. Some even use the term politology. At whatever scale, politics is the rather imperfect way that we actually do coordinate individual actions for mutual (or strictly personal) gain. Furthermore, to win a political conflict always implies that one has taken power away from one group or faction to give it to another. Most would also acknowledge that political conflict can easily degrade to zero-sum games, with little learned or settled by conflict other than "who won and who lost": Another scholar Lenin said that politics was about "who could do what to whom" (Russian "Kto-Kogo" for "Who-Whom"). As political scientist Harold Lasswell said, politics is "who gets what, when and how." It also concerns how we resolve moral conflicts that are sufficiently serious that they constitute a risk of social disruption - in which case commitment to a common process of arbitration or diplomacy tends to reduce violence - usually viewed as a key goal of civilization. Bernard Crick is a major theorist of this view and also of the idea that politics is itself simply "ethics done in public", where public institutions can agree, disagree, or intervene to achieve a desirable culmination or comprehensive (process) result. For example, in Zimbabwe there are several political parties that use marketing techniques to gain the support of the public. ZANU PF, MDC T and MDC, currently are the two vibrant political parties that use various tactics to gunner support from the masses in Zimbabwe
Commercial marketing is “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating,
Communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (AMA 2004). Marketing has the
Two fold factors of organizational function and organizational processes, whereas it was
previously perceived predominantly as a process. This represents the growth of dedicated
marketing functions within organizations, and also demonstrates the broader acceptance of
marketing as an equal to accounting or research and development.
The compounding of two terms “political marketing”, which is effectively the application of commercial marketing to the political process has been defined in numerous ways by a range of authors over the past two decades, including the works of Gronroos (1990 in O’Shaughnessy, 2001), Harrop (1990),Clemente (1992 in Butler and Collins, 1994), O’Cass (1996a, 1996b), Lock and Harris (1996) and so forth. Political marketing comes from the works of Gronroos (1990 in O’Shaughnessy, 2001) who defines it as “seeking to establish, maintain and enhance long term voter relationships at a profit for society and political parties so that the objectives of the individual political actors and organisations involved are met”. Clemente (1992 in Butler and Collins, 1994), defines political marketing as “the marketing of ideas and opinions which relate to public or political issues or to specific candidates. In general, political marketing is designed to influence people’s votes in elections”.
In addition, O’Cass (1996a, 1996b) sought to portray political marketing as “the analysis, planning, implementation and control of political and electoral
programs designed to create, build and maintain beneficial exchange relationships between a
party and voters for the purpose of achieving the political marketers objectives”. Furthermore, Lock and Harris (1996) went for a dichotomous version of academic political marketing
discourse as being “the study of the processes of exchanges between political entities and their
environment and among themselves with particular reference to the position of those entities
and their communications”, and a slightly more workable practical definition of political
marketing as an activity, where “it is concerned with strategies for positioning and
communications, and the methods through which these strategies may be realised, including
the search for information into attitudes, awareness and response of the target audience.”
Newman (1999 in Newman 2002) brings political marketing back to the basics as “the
application of marketing principles and procedures in political campaigns by various
individuals and organizations”. Interestingly, the definition expands the procedural element of political marketing as “…the analysis, development, execution and management of strategic campaigns by candidates, political parties, governments, lobbyists and interest groups that seek to drive public opinion, advance their own ideologies, win elections and pass legislation and referenda in response to the needs and wants of selected people and groups in society” (Newman 1999). Lees-Marshment (2001) again brings the concept forward as an adaptation of commercial marketing, arguing that “political marketing is about political organizations adapting business marketing concepts and techniques to help achieve their goals…[to] conduct market intelligence to identify the concerns of those they serve change their behavior to meet those demands and communicate their 'product offering' more effectively. O’Shaughnessy (2001) brings three definitions to the debate, their own definition of political marketing as “a structure of business derived labels to explain, map, nuance and condense the exchange dynamics of an election campaign; offering the possibility for new perspectives for interpreting elections”. They also raise the Gronroos (1990) definition cited above, along with
Harrop’s (1990) conceptualization where political marketing was “essentially a form of services
marketing: marketing a party consists in projecting a belief in its ability to govern”. Finally,
Henneberg (2004) refines and re-emphasizes the exchange protocol with the short working
definition of political marketing as “facilitating the societal process of political exchange”.
In order to compare the existing definitions of political marketing against the commercial
marketing definition, the AMA (2004) definition has been divided into six components
categories. “organizational function”, “set of processes”, “set of processes for creating,
communicating and delivering value to customers”, “set of processes for managing customer
relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” and a brief overview of
“organisation and stakeholders”. However, whilst the components of a definition can be
isolated and analyzed independently, the definition still remains a sum of the component parts,
and will be subjected to a final holistic interpretation to examine its applicability to the political
marketing process.
Kelley (1956) is generally credited for being the first person to use the term political marketing. The US literature identifies John Beckley, a member of the campaign team around Thomas Jefferson as one of the first political consultants, though similar roles can no doubt be identified much earlier in other societies. The rise of political marketing in the recent past has been attributed to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty, and changes in the political and electoral systems. In particular, scholars have identified the expansion of the media, particularly television as having had a significant impact. There is evidence to suggest that political marketing has contributed to improved communication between the politicians and voters. Especially apparent in the popular and academic literature on both political marketing and political communication is the occupation with image and how much or little it affects the voter. Often the phenomenon of image in politics is said to have risen because of television. However, image has almost as many meanings as the number of people who use it combined concepts from consumer behavior and political science to create a model of voting
behavior in political marketing terms. So far it has only been tested in a primary election in the USA, so its applicability outside such settings has yet to be shown. Most of the literature is concerned with what marketers would view as tactical issues, though Butler and Collins (1996) show the impact of strategy and its importance in governing the direction of the campaign. Most of the electoral markets of the West are mature, the players are established and the positions are set ( Harris:2006).
Birth of Political Marketing
The emergence of political marketing analysis has its roots in a debate initiated by a pair of leading management theorist over twenty five years ago (Wring 1996). Wring (1996) asserts that, with the publication of their ground breaking analysis of non-profit organization, Kotler and Levy (1969) found themselves in the vanguard of a group of marketing scholars committed to challenge their subjects traditionally narrow preoccupation with commercial activity. Lazer and Levy (1969) in their seminal piece the two authors argued that, “… the crux of marketing lies in a general idea of exchange rather than the narrower idea of market transaction. In Britain mass electioneering developed during the course of the nineteenth century following three major extension of the franchise in 1832, 1867 and 1884. Modern political campaigning dates from 1918 and the advent of near universal suffrage. By 1928 every adult over 21 was assured of at least one vote, regardless of gender or property qualification (Wring 1996). Since then the nature and media of political communication have changed. Terms such as “image marker” and “spin” doctor are now part of the popular electoral lexicon and the phrase “political marketing” has become recognized part of academic discourse. Wring (1996) suggest that a cursory glance at material on the subject in Britain and abroad indicates a steady growth in publication since 1980, and a more marked increase during the 1990’s
Kelley (1956) is generally credited with the first use of the term political marketing. The US
literature identifies John Beckley, a member of the campaign team around Thomas Jefferson as
one of the first political consultants, though similar roles can no doubt be identified much
earlier in other societies.The rise of political marketing in the recent past has been attributed
to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty, and changes in the
political and electoral systems. In particular, scholars have identified the expansion of the
media, particularly television as having had a significant impact. There is evidence to suggest
that political marketing has contributed to improved communication between the politicians
and voters. Especially apparent in the popular and academic literature on both political
marketing and political communication is the occupation with image and how much or little it
affects the voter. Often the phenomenon of image in politics is said to have risen because of
television. However, image has almost as many meanings as the number of people who use it
combined concepts from consumer behavior and political science to create a model of voting
behavior in political marketing terms. So far it has only been tested in a primary election in the
USA, so its applicability outside such settings has yet to be shown. Most of the literature is
concerned with what marketers would view as tactical issues, though Butler and Collins (1996)
show the impact of strategy and its importance in governing the direction of the campaign.
Most of the electoral markets of the West are mature, the players are established and the
positions are set[ Harris:2006].
In political marketing it is important to note that politics borrows much from business marketing concept which is guided by the four P’s, namely products, price, place and promotion. If political marketing is a borrowed ancient, therefore it means that this phenomenon was there way back before it was recognized. America and British scholars which among includes Kotler are the first scholars to initiate this concept of political marketing (Scammell no year). Products in marketing are the first important “P” which can be used similarly in politics. Historically, the think in business world is that good products must sell itself. The same applies in politics where a good party that respects the rights of the citizens and takes care of the needs of its supporters is likely to live longer. Customers are protected by several rights to make the choice of the product they want depending as whether the product is well packaged and suits the demand of the customers. For instance, in Zimbabwe ZANU PF lost votes to their rival MDC Tsvangirai because they failed to suits the needs and wants of the majority of Zimbabwe. ZANU PF did not address the problems that matters most in people’s life and MDC had to capitalize on that. Political parties in this instance are treated as goods that the electorate can make a choice
In addition, price is another aspect that determines the customer’s choice to buy a product. Here customer can decide whether their money is enough for them to purchase a product depending on the quality and quantity of the products. The same applies in politics where the political party appears like the price of a commodity that customers are prepared to pay for. For example in Zimbabwe ZANU PF failed to lure the votes from electorate because the electorates was not prepared to pay for the cost. MDC and Mavambo/Kusile were the other competing products on the shelves that the voters could not sacrifice to buy. Since 1980 people have been supporting the ZANU PF as a party and their needs and wants were not gratified. The price or the compromise that people made since 1980’s was too much for them to bear up with the party. Land was distributed, but not to every one who need it but to the heavy weight supporters which among includes the war veterans and ministers. The ordinary citizens could not stand the cost of the party manifesto and had to go for other parties.
The third “P”which stands for place identifies the place in which a product can be found. In business and marketing goods or products have to be available at the right place, right time and in right quantities. Some of the revolutions in business have come about by changing places. The same applies in politics where people wish to vote for the political party that can address the bread and butter issues when need be. For example in Zimbabwe ZANU PF which used to rule since 1980, could not address peoples needs such as hunger and starvation, lack of jobs, free education and so forth. When people’s needs are not address they loss trust and flare to continue supporting a party. People shifted to MDC and Mavambo/Sokusile with hope that maybe their plight can be addressed. A political party can lose support if it fails complete to satisfy and instill hope to the people’s demands and needs. Those who fall sick could not get medication from the hospital or clinics because there were no medicines even the nurses and doctors were on strike. People of Zimbabwe lost hope to the ZANU PF and thought otherwise MDC might be the solution to their problems.
The fourth and most important “P” is promotion and in business certain organization gain favors for their products because they can persuade and satisfy the customer needs and wants through promotions. Promotion in business look at how are the chosen targeted groups informed or educated about the organization products. This includes all the weapons of marketing such as armory, advertising, selling, sales promotion, public relations and so forth. Promotion has become the most important “P” to focus on. The same can be applied in politics where political parties have to inform their supporters about their manifesto which addresses the people’s problems. In Zimbabwe promotion is done by all the political parties and the good example is the presidential scholarships to Fort Hare, Cuba, Malaysia and China. Land allocation and the distribution of inputs to the farmers is another promotion in politics. ZANU PF in the past used to educate the children of the war veterans and doctors, chiefs and university intellectuals were given cars so that they can remain loyal to the party. MDC on the other hand, could send their party members oversees, pay for their studies abroad as a way of instilling trust from their followers.
It can be noted that in political marketing campaigns by political parties and donations given to different social group such as the donation of computers to rural schools were there is no electricity, initiating of policies such as the domestic bill to product women, giving land to neighboring country leadership such as Bingo WaMutarika and inviting leaders from other African countries like Mandela in 1990 is a campaigning strategy that can be equated to promotion. It can therefore be argued that political marketing as a phenomenon borrows heavily on marketing concept. This phenomenon could have existed way back before it was recognized.
In addition, one of the earliest and most important studies of professional election campaigning appeared in the mid 1950’s written by American academic Stanley Kelly, “Profession Public Relations and Political Power” in 1956 examine development in political communication including the launch and evolution of the first full service consultancy campaign during the 1930’s. Significantly his study was probably the first to make use of the phrase “Political marketing”. Aside from the growth in specialist literature on electioneering in the United States, several scholars in other countries have begun research into development in and around their regions. Unlike the American research which is increasingly sub-divided and focused on specific cases or campaign activities such as polling or advertising techniques together under the generic term “political marketing”. The fact that several independent scholars from different democracies have recognize the growth of this phenomenon over the last two decades tend to reinforce the belief that there is a major change taking place in the way modern elections are conducted.
Furthermore, large amount of the non-American material on political marketing has been produced by researchers in Europe. Several French writers have been to the fore in this development. These include Lindon who completed his study “marketing politique et social”, in the 1970’s (Lindo 1976). In 1980 a group of French scholars including Charlotte, David and Piotet convened at Liege University to consider the growing importance of the phenomenon in Western Europe (Piotet et al, 1980) Wanger has pioneered the study of political marketing in German and in Italy Mazzoleni investigated the growth of political marketing, whilst a pair of experts have charted developments in Spain (Roce and Rives, 1982)
Again other research completed on political marketing includes material from countries as far afield as Canada (Leiss et al, 1990) Australia (Piffen, 1989) New Zealand (Denmark, 1991) and Columbia (Salazar Vargas, 1994). Judging from the above mentioned examples it is clear that political marketing is an old phenomenon that has been used and studied. However, nothing much is heard about how much impact this phenomenon hat to the African continent. It can be argued that political marketing is a technique that is used across the globe. There are some schools of thought like Wring (1996) who strongly believe that political marketing was first used by African nationalist such as Nkwame Nkrumah in the early 1960’s. What is amazing is that despite the use of this phenomenon in Africa no studies have been conducted. South Africa which had its election used this technique of political market at global scale. Technological advancement such as satellite television/channels, internet, news groups and conglomerate media have assisted immensely African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and many others to cast their party ideology using political marketing strategy. This probably indicates that currently political marketing is operating at global scale due to new media technology.
Political marketing implies the usage of marketing tools, techniques and methods in political
Process (Menon, 2008). However, Menon (2008) asserts that in other words, political marketing is the outcome of the marriage between marketing and politics. As an activity and method, it reflects the penetration of the political space by marketing. Political advertising, Celebrity endorsements, involvement of professional consultants and campaign managers, online campaigning, mobile phone canvassing, segmentation, micro targeting and so forth are some of the methods extensively used in political marketing (Menon 2008). Though political marketing is increasingly used in democratic political systems in which mass support is significantly important to sustain power; military rulers also use marketing strategy to build their branded image. The influence of professional marketing has affected the working style of political parties. Parties became more market oriented and began to frame there programs and policies in tune with opinion polls and market surveys. Information revolution and globalization have played a vital role in changing the pattern and content of traditional political campaigning into one of the most professional and sophisticated marketing tactics. It is argued that if a political party implements the marketing philosophy, it will seek to meet voters needs and wants, thus producing voter satisfaction, and in doing so gain electoral support to meet its own goals.[Marshment:2006]
Political marketing in Britain
Margaret Thatcher’s leadership proved to be the watershed in the development of political marketing in Britain. Elected Conservative leaders in 1975, Thatcher set out to rejuvenate a party demoralized by defeat in the two general elections of 1974. Within four years a revitalized organization had established a close working relationship with advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi. Wring (1996) says that there is evidence that the political marketing concept shaped the manifesto and electoral strategy in all three elections under Lady Thatcher’s leadership. Following their emphatic 1979 victory the Conservative continued to re-organize their campaign machinery In 1981 Central office employed Christopher Lawson to head a new marketing department. Judging from the evidence fore fronted above, it is therefore clear that political marketing techniques is an old phenomenon which can be traced as far back as Thatcher’s time, or perhaps even before her days. This phenomenon had grown immensely up to the present moment where it is globalised.
Nevertheless, the impact and enduring importance of political marketing in Britain has been most comprehensively documented in the wealth of material which has appeared in the run-up to and after the 1992 general elections. For instance, while Harrop’s (1990)’s critical; review of the subject matter in Parliamentary Affairs, O’Shaughnessy (1990) uses a chapter to contrast British and American electioneering. Television producer Rees cover similar ground to Bruce in part of selling politics, a book based on the BBC “Time Watch” series of the same name (Rees, 1992)
Currant status of political marketing
Political marketing as a phenomenon has spread its tentacles. As a concept this approach put the customer at the beginning rather than at the end of production cycle (Barker, 1991). For instance, in Canada there are now two types of national political consultants. Party consultants have commandeered the authority once held by regional officials. Despite increasing presence of political consultants, all indications are that Canadian elections promotional activities are relatively static. (Marland 2003). Classical political marketing, at the national level have professional produced television advertisements’, media relations experts who wage spin control, and planned events such as leader tours and television debates (Marland2002). Classical political marketing nowadays enables the canvassing of electors to identify supporters by telephone, instead of on the doorsteps, although advertising still typically includes signage, brochures, and community newspapers in Canada. Perhaps the most visible modernization in recent years has been parties’ mediocre websites that provide daily campaign updates and which are sometimes mirrored by candidates’ amateurish online presence.
American-style political marketing is creeping into Canadian electioneering. The use of five classic and five newer marketing techniques, such as comparative advertising, celebrity endorsement, and permanent campaign are explored, while technological innovations such as internet campaigning, rob calls, and video imaging are also witnessed as an indication of the status of political marketing in Canada. Moreso, in Zimbabwe the main political parties such as ZANU PF and two MDC parties have electronic websites that reflects the structure, mandate, advertisement and manifesto of their parties. Through public media and the private media such as The Standard, Independent had political advertisements that were flighted in March 2008, during the harmonized elections. Perhaps what can be queried about Zimbabwe is the lack of effective implementation of political marketing techniques, which may be cause by lack of democracy. Political marketing is only vibrant in countries where there is democracy. The use of marketing concept in political marketing which includes 4 P’s thus products, price, place and promotion was never used effectively in Zimbabwe in March 2008 harmonized elections. In South Africa, in the recent election marketing concept were used by all the political parties and the choice of Jacob Zuma as the new elected president shows that people still have faith and trust with ANC. The ANC was effectively branded and a lot of money was poured in to campaign which could be the other reason for their victory.
Celebrity endorsements
In commercial marketing, celebrity are paid t endorse products in an effort to transfer the celebrity’s qualities. Similarly, American and British politicians regularly socialize with the range of entertainment stars, together choreographing photo-ops to augment each others profile. In Zimbabwe, after the inauguration of Tsvangirai and Mutambara, certain artists were there to entertain and endorse the “All inclusive government”. In South Africa recently the newly elected president Jacob Zuma came on the satellite television dancing with re-owned South Africa musician. For example, Mudumo African program that comes out every week. During elections, Republicans and Democratic campaigns are endorsed by who’s who list of Hollywood types, some whom are actually Canadians, such as star Treks Williams Shatner’s recent involvement in an Ohio gubernatorial campaign. In Zimbabwe during the 1980’s the coming of Bob Marley and Soul Brothers was a celebrity endorsement which indicate the growth of political marketing which started in 1980’s or even way back around 1960’s in Africa after its recognition in Europe.
However, celebrities have a low profile in Canadian federal elections. Perhaps the last time they were widely involved was during the failed 1992 Charlotte town Accord referendum where electors widely rejected elites. One respondent suggested that, since then Canadian strategists believe that quasi-celebrities such as bank CEO’s have only narrow appeal and can actually do more harm than good. As for Canadian entertainers, because so many achieve stardom only after they have left the country, it is considered difficult to source the support of Hollywood-type celebrities. Marland (2003) state that “one party consultant put it,” parties seek endorsements from credible people who allow you to say that you have growth potential”.
Erdogan (1999) notes that in Canada it is quite the opposite in the constituencies where in 2000 and 2002 candidates received endorsements from local musicians, athletes, politicians, minority groups leaders, as well as electors fitting demographic profiles. These political celebrities leverage their media status in an attempt to raise the profile of the party’s local candidate, to build moral among volunteers, and to generate local campaign momentum.
In addition, political marketing strategy has permeated every sphere of life and media. Malicious election advertising often explicitly targets the weaknesses of competing parties or candidates. These highly emotional broadcast advertisement accentuated issues and policy shortcomings, or attack the personal character of an opponent. They are an vogue among political consultants because, although electors say that they do not like the practice they are more likely to recall negative rather than positive messages. Moreover, controversial advertisement can also attract news coverage, and going negative is often thought necessary to effectively counter an opponent’s negatively. In Zimbabwe this technique is witnessed quite often. Pictures of politicians in newspapers appear differently with negative connotation to de-campaign each other. For instance, Tsvangirai’s portrait in public media and President Mugabe in privately owned papers. The progressive Conservatives infamously mocked Liberal leader Jean Chretien’s face paralysis in their 1993 advertisement and in 1997 the Reform Party’s advertising sneered at Quebec politicians. Despite the public debate that followed the 2000 campaign saw the PC’s label the liberals are liars, while the Liberal Party was busy slugging the “hidden agenda” of the leader of the Canadian Alliance.
Internet campaign:
Use of internet as an emerging political marketing tool enables the political parties to segment their supporters. The internet’s economical integration of interactive visuals, sound and data suggest that it may revolutionize election campaigning. Presently, may Americans campaigns purchase banner advertising on popular websites, send unsolicited electronic mails to electors, and use e-commerce software to accept donations online. Kipper (1993) say that, in Canadian politics, the internet is used to displace otherwise costly communication, and is starting to be used for get-out-the –vote efforts. In Zimbabwe the main political parties have the websites through which one can surf. The only problem is that some of the website are not updated and only few citizens access the website. However, lack of an online presence by any of the political parties during the 2000 election campaigns is indicative in Canadian electioneers’ skepticism about the World Wide Web. Banners advertising were used only somewhat by two parties, email had an almost exclusive internal office function, and online donations were an almost exclusive internal office function, and online donations were an after thought. Despite considerable technological changes, Canadian parties’ use of the internet in 2000 was not much different from the 1997 campaign, although by comparison news media website stores substantial content.
It can therefore be concluded that political marketing is a compounding term, which is derived from two independent entities thus “politics” plus “marketing”. Politics in short can be defined as “who gets what, when and how”. In addition, it is the study and conduct of decision making power. “Marketing” on the other hand can be shortly defined as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas. It is mainly concerned with four “P”, that is products, pricing, place and promotion. Therefore it can be summarized that the term “political marketing” can be defined broadly by scholars such as Gronroos (1990), Harrop (1996), Clement, Newman (1999) and so forth. Political marketing borrows heavily from marketing and uses the marketing concepts. Kelly (1956) is credited for being the first to use the term “political marketing” (Venu 2008). Again the rise of political marketing has been attributed to the development of an investigative press, declining party loyalty and changes in the political and electoral system. Currently, political marketing has been globalised and certain techniques such as celebrity endorsement, internet campaign, political branding, advertisement and so forth are used to gain the support of the masses towards a certain political party.
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