The Politics of Marketing the Labour Party [Hardcover]

The Labour Party has been using marketing longer than is commonly realised. Leading figures like Morrison, Snowden, Webb, Gaitskell, Benn and Wilson were among those who recognized the importance of imagery and symbolic communication long before the time of Kinnock, Mandelson and Blair. Politics of Marketing the Labour Party traces how the party's political campaigning has developed since its birth and how the increasing use of marketing contributed to the radical restructuring of both the organization and its policies.Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Inside the Political Market THE PROPAGANDA AGE To Educate or Persuade? The Challenge of Symbolic Politics THE MEDIA AGE Admass Politics Selling the Party Designer Labour THE MARKETING AGE Marketing Research Socialism The New Right Ascendancy Brand New Labour? Conclusions: Everything Must Go Bibliography

'Wring has pulled together in a concise and readable way the various twists and turns within the party as control passed back and forth between those who sought to 'sell' socialism by exploiting advertising and the news media and others who saw themselves as educationalists and were scornful of slick presentational techniques...a well-researched antidote to New Labour spin' - Nicholas Jones, Free Press

'Wring detects a prolonged tug-of-war between two traditions, the 'educationalist' and the marketing...Altogether a fascinating study which merits a wide audience.' - Eric Shaw, Parliamentary Affairs

DOMINIC WRING is Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies and a member of the Communication Research Centre in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Political Marketing and has published work on various aspects of political sociology.