As a marketing term, branding is when a company develops a business plan that suits their name and logo. Each country has their own unique way of developing business strategy to attract the attention of viewers within the country. For example, most branding malaysia would create advertisements about festive holidays featuring multiple races wearing traditional clothes. This helps to boost Malaysia’s multiracial culture and promote products that are only available during festive holidays.
In the political world, it can be used similarly but the politicians are both the “brand” and “product”. Branding agency is an important aspect of a politician to make themselves more favorable in the eyes of the public including during elections. During elections, politicians would advertise themselves like products on sale; they would advertise themselves and offer promises and changes they would bring to the country and gain more votes in hopes of earning a seat in a party or potentially, the seat of a president.
When it is done for political reasons, branding company can be used to create propaganda and will greatly affect the careers of other politicians. It is a common tactic used to sabotage other politicians by spreading fake news that would degrade their target’s image. Thankfully, modern technology provides access to information for free on the internet. This helps to weed out the fake information and debunk the lies spoken by politicians.
Famous Political Branding
Depending on how a politician brand themselves, it could make or break their career. With a well thought out and motivating speech ending with a powerful slogan, it can help them win even the president seat. Here are some politicians who won with their most memorable slogans.
Yes We Can (Barack Obama)
One of the most influential and beloved presidents of America, Barack Obama has claimed the seat as America’s first black president. This has become one of the most historical events in the world as America only had white presidents until Obama. He began 2008 and won the seat and became president in 2009.
During his victory speech, he uttered the three famous words that would be remembered by the Americans for many years: “Yes We Can”. This is the same slogan that was used in Cesar Chevaz and Dolores Huerta in 1970 to boost the morale of United Farm Workers. What makes Obama’s “Yes We Can” so special is because of how he delivers his speech and flows perfectly into his slogan. His slogan also comes with a shot of Obama with a half red and half blue image with different lines, but mostly accompanied by his famous slogan. Ever since then, multiple parodies of his famous “Yes We Can” image were made with different actors and their lines shown in these parodies. With his heartwarming friendship with now-president Joe Biden, he displayed a level of friendship and humility with his then-vice president that warmed the hearts of many people over the internet.
Despite years after his presidency, many people including outside of America look up to Obama as the ideal president for America. But, due to the law that only allows the president to run for 4 years, he stepped down in 2017 and handed over the seat to Donald Trump.
Make America Great Again (Donald Trump)
By far the most controversial prime minister to date, Donald Trump has taken the seat of presidency, exceeding everyone’s expectations. Initially known for being a millionaire who’s famous for his TV show “The Apprentice”, no one really knows who Donald Trump is until he ran for presidency in 2016.
Known for his narcissism and racism, Trump participated to contest the president’s seat in 2016 and riled up hate among the Americans. During this time, he was contesting with Hilary Clinton who was ahead of Trump until she was found conducting illegal conducts on emails. This solidifies Trump’s position and won him the seat for president. Throughout his campaign, Trump has spread his propaganda by encouraging white supremacy and racism in the country. Despite his slogan indicating an optimistic look into America’s future, it further boosts his racist propaganda and encourages the actions of his supporters. One of his famous speeches was to propose building a wall at the Mexico border and have them pay for the wall.
What makes Trump such a prominent figure in America is the way he persuaded his supporters into supporting his cause and has led to many tragic events. One of such incidents is the raid on the Capitol building where the votes are being counted in. After the raid settled down, many government officials gathered to discuss Trump’s action which led to his second impeachment. The first impeachment was in 2019 when he was suspected to be dealing with suspicious deals with Ukraine’s president. This called for his impeachment, but was later acquit by the Senate.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Depending on how the politicians run their campaign, they can leave an everlasting impact on citizen’s perception of these politicians and their affiliated parties. A slogan can be reused as long as it achieves the results you desire in your campaign. As mentioned before, Obama didn’t create his own “Yes We Can” slogan out of nowhere, but the way he presented his victory speech and the flow gave him the opportunity to use his slogan to its best effect. However, some slogans can flame the hatred within citizens that could cause discord in the country even if the wordings are meant to incite positivity like how Trump completely altered the intention of his slogan.
