Trade Magazine & Scholarly Articles

De Sio, L. (2008). Are less-involved voters the key to win elections? Comparative Political Studies, 41(2), 217-241.

This article hypothesizes that although more involved, regular voters behave in accordance with their ideological beliefs and therefore are less likely to be swayed by political advertisements and campaign tactics. However, those who are less involved are more likely to be influenced by these same tactics. The article is a great overview of the concept of voter demographics and provides an understanding of why certain campaigns tend to target certain audiences in their use of rhetoric and policy proposals.

Gleason, T. R. (2005). The candidate behind the curtain: A three-step program for analyzing campaign images. Simile, 5(3),

Author Timothy Gleason discusses in this article how photo journalists often reproduce the image created for them. His article is important to the discussion of how the media plays a large role in campaigns and how candidates manipulate the media into creating a desired image of the candidate. In the latter portion of his article, he examines a visit of George W. Bush to Oshkosh, WI and how supporters and protesters were divided in a way that photos would elicit images of the supports rather than the protesters. His conclusion argues that politician's hold these "pseudo events" to gain popularity and to craft an image contrary to reality.

Strömbäck. (2007). Political marketing and professionalized campaigning: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Political Marketing, 6(2/3), 49-67.

During the last decade, a number of scholars have argued that political marketing has become increasingly professionalized and that political marketing has become the leading strategy in approaching campaigns. Strömbäck discusses how this concept could provide difficulties in trying understand election results in other democracies that posses different political institutions than the U.S. or Great Britain. He also discusses the blurred distinction that occurs between political marketing, market orientation, and marketing techniques. This article is useful in mapping the progression of political marketing over the last two decades.