Observations: Republican Brands, Democrat Brands

Might an advertised brand intentionally or unintentionally evoke association with one or the other of the major United States political parties? If so, what would prompt such an association? Those are the questions explored here.

Republican Brands, Democrat Brands...

Betsy D. GelbUniversity of HoustonAlina B. Sorescu University of Houston

Might an advertised brand intentionally or unintentionally evoke association with one or the other of the major United States political parties? If so, what would prompt such an association? Those are the questions explored here.

The possibility appears inherently plausible, given theory from semiotics, which is defined as the study of 'hidden messages of environments, objects and cultural images,' (Solomon, 1988). After all, brands can be envisioned as specific animals, Levy demonstrated 15 years ago (1985). His research among consumers showed that in...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands