Political Marketing in Canada

Political candidates, parties, and governments worldwide are using
marketing tools and concepts such as profiling, targeting,
segmentation, branding, and delivery management to win elections and
retain their hold on power. Are these strategies making politicians
more responsive to voters' needs, or do they pose a threat to
democracy?

Political Marketing in Canada, the first book to ask this
question of Canada, considers the consequences of political marketing
in the realms of public policy, leadership, governance, and the
government-citizen relationship. Through dynamic case studies that
range from the resurrection of the Conservative Party, to media
accounts of political marketing, to Tim Hortons as a political brand,
the authors trace how political marketing is transforming the old
system of brokerage politics into a new, distinctly Canadian model.
Citizens are now viewed as consumer groups, while political platforms
and promises have been repackaged as products aimed at targeted
audiences. Whether this trend is positive or negative, the authors
argue, depends on how politicians and governments carry out political
marketing - and its promises - in practice.

This path-breaking volume offers new research on a global phenomenon
and shows how politicians and their advisers have adapted international
approaches to create a unique Canadian form of political marketing.

Alex Marland is an assistant professor in the
Department of Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Thierry Giasson is an associate professor in the
Communication and Information Department at Universite Laval.
Jennifer Lees-Marshment is a senior lecturer in the
Department of Political Studies at the University of Auckland.

Contributors: Lisa Birch, Patricia Cormack, Yannick
Dufresne, Anna Esselment, Emilie Foster, Thierry Giasson, Elisabeth
Gidengil, Royce Koop, Kirsten Kozolanka, Jennifer Lees-Marshment,
Patrick Lemieux, Alex Marland, Tamara A. Small, and Andre Turcotte.

Alex Marland is an assistant professor in theDepartment of Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland.Thierry Giasson is an associate professor in theCommunication and Information Department at Universite Laval.Jennifer Lees-Marshment is a senior lecturer in theDepartment of Political Studies at the University of Auckland.Contributors: Lisa Birch, Patricia Cormack, YannickDufresne, Anna Esselment, Emilie Foster, Thierry Giasson, ElisabethGidengil, Royce Koop, Kirsten Kozolanka, Jennifer Lees-Marshment,Patrick Lemieux, Alex Marland, Tamara A. Small, and Andre Turcotte.