Citizen Typography and Political Brands in the 2016 US Presidential Election Campaign
Marketing Theory 18 (3): 421-31 (2018)
12 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2020
Date Written: March 15, 2018
Abstract
The 2016 presidential campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump saw citizen typography emerge in highly visible and highly impactful ways, particularly as the candidates made seemingly little attempt to maintain full control over their visual brand identities. But what does the surprising significance of typography in this recent campaign reveal about marketing and citizen participation in politics, about political brand management in a networked media environment, and about typography’s role as a key pillar of branded political communication? This essay offers two key concepts: the networking of political brands and an emerging logic of participatory aesthetics—both of which point to a decentralisation of traditional ‘brand management’ in favour of affectively-driven political engagement through visual communications disseminated over communication networks.
Keywords: typography, graphic design, political communication, presidential election, political branding
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Here is the Coronavirus
related research on SSRN
