Brand Command ─ Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control

Canada’s style of politics has changed in recent years. Ministers are kept on a short leash. MPs parrot the same catchphrases across the country. Journalists are shunned. Government information is hidden. Why is this happening? To get to the answers, Alex Marland conducted over seventy interviews with political insiders, reviewed internal political files, and submitted dozens of access to information requests to understand what has happened to politics and government in Ottawa. He discovered that in the face of rapid changes in communication technology, the Prime Minister’s Office is relying on corporate marketing strategies to centrally control government messages and influence voters. At the core of the strategy is brand control; at stake is democracy as we know it.

Alex Marland is associate professor of political science and associate dean of arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a leading researcher on political communication and marketing in Canada.