On Marketing Strategy in Electoral Politics

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

For example, after losing to Bill Clinton, Robert Dole carved out a career as a spokesperson for Pepsi, Visa, and Viagra.

Indeed, this was a popular position in the early political science literature, as reflected in the writings of [3] and [13].

While the existence of these two margins is seen most starkly in the voting context, the commercial context is not immune to these considerations. Typically we dismiss the first margin when we are talking about necessities: milk will be bought, in other words, so the only interesting question is, from whom? However, many product categories may be viewed as at least somewhat discretionary, and arguably, part of the goal of every marketing campaign is not just to persuade, but also to stimulate buying. With purchase stimulation on the table, it becomes easier to rationalize something that has long puzzled economists: why well-established long-lived brands continue to invest in marketing when there is seemingly no one left to persuade.

For the reader interested in the large empirical literature on political campaigns, a good starting point would be [11] and the references therein.