White House Branding

Today in class we talked about branding. One thing that really caught my attention was how offended people were getting over White House branding. I guess I just don’t understand what the big deal is.

We see branding everyday, everywhere we go, in every thing we do. So what makes political branding any worse than branding for things such as McDonald’s and Burger King? Personally, I was have to say that I am more on the side that gets offended by places like this branding to young children. The way I see it, however, is that these places are trying to sell a product, which is exactly what politicians are trying to do as well.

People tend to forget that, just like major corporations are trying to sell us products through branding, politicians are also trying to sell us something. They are selling themselves. The point of a political campaign is to figure out either who supports you or who you need to get the support of, find a way to appeal to that demographic, and then deliver them something that you know they are going to eat right up. So, maybe the reason this doesn’t offend me is because I think it’s ridiculous to get offended by people who are just doing their job.

Any time I see a political ad show up on my television my response is simple (and maybe a bit biased): If it’s my candidate of choice, I like the campaign, and if it’s the candidate I’m against, then I just roll my eyes and scoff. Maybe I’m just desensitized by branding though. But I guess we all are to some extent by now, aren’t we?