Political Communication 219708 Assignment One

Obama Uses Popular Culture and Traditional Theory to Win the American Election

Today‟s politician faces an array of challenges in interacting with media outlets and creating publicity. Such as the advent of the Internet, the relentless 24 hour news broadcast, the lack of party loyalty by members of the public and the merging of political ideology between left and right wing politics. In this essay I will show why Barack Obama‟s appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the build up to the 2008 election and subsequent electioneering on the „Smackdown Your Vote‟ website (owned by the WWE), and his status updates on Facebook, were a text book model of political campaigning for the modern day celebrity politician catering for popular culture. Campaigning in this manner also removed some of the risks associated in dealing with generic media outlets and reached a national (and international) audience.

Although a critic could dispute that this truly represents the “re-feudalism” or the Americanization (Habermus, S. 1990 as cited in McNair 2004) of politics perfectly, I will argue that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Obama gained a significant amount of voters between the ages of eighteen and twenty five which ultimately lead to his election success. Finally, I will briefly look at another type of celebrity politician, the celebrity who is not running for office or an elected representative, but a celebrity with a political opinion. I will look at the impact of Oprah Winfrey‟s endorsement of Obama throughout his campaign.

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Firstly we need to look at the challenges facing a modern day politician, especially during the campaign trail. Perhaps the most influencing factor facing the modern day politician is the decay of traditional party members and the lack of voter loyalty (Stanyer, 2007). This has led to more and more swing voters. Stanyer argues that as a result, political campaigners are more focused on targeting a section of the electorate rather than the entire nation. The modern day politician will take aim at the swing voter by campaigning on what are described as „bread and butter‟ issues (Stanyer, 2007) such as the economy, employment and healthcare. In Obama‟s televised address to the 14 million World Wrestling Entertainment viewers (in the U.S. alone) he mentions these issues only (WWE Corporate, 2008). The modern day advent of the celebrity politician is coupled alongside the existence of 24 hour news channels and the Internet. There is an increasing focus on the politicians‟ personality, and the mistakes and gaffes they make (Stayner, 2007). Celebrity politicians try to use different forums rather than the traditional live debate to garner support for upcoming elections (Street, 2004).

When Obama appeared on the WWE, an non-traditional method of political communication, he used a top down communicative technique (Clampitt, 2010) by using a pre-recorded speech. He was well rehearsed and was able to reach a large demographic of people which would obviously include swing voters. Seventy five percent of the WWE viewership is aged

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between the ages of seventeen and fifty, thirty four percent are women and fifty five percent have at least some university schooling (WWE Corporate, 2008).

Street discusses two types of celebrity politicians. The first type he refers to as CP1 (Celebrity Politician version 1) (Street 2004). Street argues that this type of politician is more likely to take to non-traditional platforms to promote themselves. A well cited example of this is Bill Clinton‟s appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show, (Street, 2004) where he also played his saxophone, and as discussed, later the Obama campaign used Facebook and the WWE as a forum, enhancing his celebrity representation.

A CP1 type of politician “seeks validation from the voting public by their claim to represent icons and techniques of the user” (Street, 2004, pp 442). A prime example of this is the speech and imagery used by Obama in the address he made to the WWE viewers. Firstly, he criticised one of the un-popular wrestlers, then addressed the current government, accusing them of playing “King of the Ring”. This statement would imply to wrestling fans that Obama believed the current government were more focussed on scandals and individual progression than they were on the current issues. He then signed off his speech by saying to Washington (government) “Can you smell what Barack is cooking?” (WWE Corporate,

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2008). This is a parody of famous African American wrestler and Hollywood actor Dwayne „The Rock‟ Johnson‟s catch phrase, „Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?‟ (WWE Alumni, 2011). Not only did Obama align himself with a highly recognised and popular

entertainer, more importantly he had represented himself alongside a black entertainer. The imagery and language compares Obama to that of the Rock with the hope of endearing himself to fans of wrestling and African American voters. The WWE is the third most popular prime time programme amongst African American viewers (WWE Corporate, 2008).The rationality of appearance, rightly or wrongly can be a crucial factor in gaining electoral votes (Street, 2004).

Marketing plays an ever important role for the celebrity politician. It is essential that the politician is seen in a positive light and marketed well. This is described as political marketing which “refers to the use of marketing tools, concepts and philosophies within the field of policy development, campaigning and internal relations by political parties and organisations” (Lilleker, 2008, pp 151).

Lees-Marchment writes “marketing is concerned with the relationship between a firm‟s products and resources and the response to it from consumers or the market and all influences

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of the markets” (Lees Marchment, 2001, pp 61). This example of Barack Obama‟s campaign is similar to what can be described as a sales-based party strategy (Lilleker, 2008). This strategy is when the message is changed to convince the voter that the offered product is right for them, rather than the product (policy) changing to meet consumer (voter) demand. A

sales orientated party focuses on selling its‟ argument to voters. “It retains its predetermined product design but recognises that desired supporters may not automatically want it. Using market intelligence to understand voter‟s response to behaviour, the party employs the latest advertising and communication techniques to persuade voters that it is right” (Lees-Marchment, 2001, pp 696).

The sales orientated party undergoes six stages before delivering policy to the public. In the case of the election we are interested in the first three as they build up to pre-election communication.

The first step is product design, which in the political spectrum amounts to the creation of policy. In the case of Obama we can see this as the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, job creation and stabilising the economy. Secondly, they used market intelligence, namely quantitative and qualitative research. Obama had website surveys capturing information from

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the eighteen to twenty four year old demographic. He presumably researched viewership numbers and viewer demographics of the World Wresting Entertainment audience and found that most viewers were between the ages of 18-34 (WWE Corporate, 2008). The third step is communicating the message. Barack Obama used selling techniques during his address on the WWE by using „specific and targeted communication‟ (Lees- Marchement, 2001), for example the use of wrestling jargon “King of the Ring” and “Can you smell what Barack is cooking?” It is criticized that this model is more marketing than political marketing, but as

seen here Barack Obama‟s technique can be easily portrayed as a sales based strategy. This is evident with the combination of „bread and butter‟ issues, the targeted audience and the language used in highlighting the message.

A critique of the celebrity politician is that they are “impoverishing the relationship between representative and represented by marginalising issues of political substance in favour of irrelevant gestures and superficial appearances” (Street, 2004, pp 439). There are certainly parts of Obama‟s diatribe that could only be interpreted as irrelevant, seen in his comment “Randy Orton‟s (wrestler) reign of terror may be coming to an end”. The impact of his appearance on WWE programming will never be known, unlike Oprah Winfrey‟s influential rallying for Obama.

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Time Magazine has voted Oprah Winfery one of the top one hundred most influential people in the world (Time Magazine, 2010). She has a talk show, a book club and her own television network, OWN. She lent public support to Barack Obama in the 2007 primary election and the 2008 presidency campaign. Winfrey is an example of a recent phenomenon of another type of celebrity politician. A celebrity politician is an “entertainer who pronounces on politics and claims the right to represent peoples and causes but who do so without seeking or acquiring elected office” (Street, 2004, pp 438).

Although Winfrey took somewhat of a back seat during the presidential election, her involvement in the primary election was crucial. Her public endorsement of Obama arguably gained him over one million voters in the primary elections (Time Magazine, 2010). She was able to help raise an estimated three million dollars for the Barack Obama campaign (Fox News, 2007). Although she was not the first celebrity to endorse a politician, her media coverage is unparalleled. Her television programme alone attracts over eight million viewers (Peace, Brewer, 2008). To an extent she was part of a „process coverage‟ (McNair, 2000) which gave Obama more publicity.

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Criticism leveled at this type of celebrity politician is the validity of their claims, as they are not experts in the political field (Street, 2004). Despite this, a CBS poll found that thirty one percent of Americans claimed that most people they know would be more inclined to vote for Obama because of Oprah‟s endorsement of Obama (CBS News, 2009). This shows the potential of the celebrity politician. Peace and Brewer argue in the research they conducted that Oprah‟s role in gaining Obama votes had very little impact on the election, and claimed that most people said they would listen to the opinions of family and friends over that of Oprah (Pearce and Brewer, 2008). Regardless, Winfrey‟s endorsement of Obama

undoubtedly raised over three million dollars, which led to Obama being able to turn down public funds towards his campaign (New York Times, June 2006).

The Guardian newspaper cited Barack Obama‟s success in gaining seventy percent of the under 25 age group vote, in part, by embracing online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace (Guardian newspaper, 2008).

Not only is the Internet a readily available source of information for most people, it is also useful in bypassing problematic areas of dealing directly with the media. “Administrations are always seeking new ways to deal with the challenges posed by the news media and new

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means of reaching audiences” (Stanyer, 2007, pp 61). The media is not pre-disposed to broadcast what the celebrity politician wants it to, but with the advent of Facebook the politician can issue one-way communication in a planned manner. The Facebook site gave subscribers the opportunity to ask questions, which were responded to in a precise and timely manner, as opposed to an election debate where the candidate has no opportunity to plan what is said. The Facebook initiative not only provides relevant, one-way communication (initially) in an accessible manner, it also bypasses traditional media creating a safe and efficient form of communication. It was also useful in raising campaign funds (New York Times, June 2006).

Another online initiative utilised by Obama was supplying the World Wrestling Entertainment website, „Smackdown Your Vote‟ with an interview transcript pertaining to the democrats‟ election campaign (WWE Smackdown Your Vote, 2008), which included updates on democratic meetings, policies and rallies.

As illustrated, the Barack Obama campaign was revolutionary in terms of using non-traditional broadcasting and media outlets, such as the WWE and Facebook. He provided a perfect model of marketing techniques such as the sales-orientated method. He carefully

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diagnosed the viewership numbers and demographics of the World Wrestling Entertainment viewers and established the relevance of using such a forum. While mentioning his campaign promises, he aligned himself with the African-American community and showed a sense of humor and personality by using familiar wrestling quotes. Obama undertook polling and surveying techniques on Facebook which gave him real time information. He also obtained the backing of one of the world‟s most powerful women, in both fundraising and campaigning.

Barack Obama integrated being a celebrity politician with modern day marketing strategies and non-traditional methods of communication, to create a successful image and product, which ultimately won him the 2008 election.

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References
Clampitt, Phillip G. Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness: problems, strategies, solutions 4th Editon, 2010. California , United States of America ,Sage Publications.

Lilleker, Darren G. Key Concepts in Political Communication, 2005. London, United Kingdom, Sage Publications,

Stanyer, James. Modern Political Communication, 2007. Cambridge , United Kingdom, Polity Press.

Street, John Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Volume 6, 435-452

Lees-Marshment, Jennifer. (2001) The Marrige of Politics and Marketing. Political Studies, 49, 692-713

McNair, B (2004) PR must die :spin anti spin and political relations in the Uk, 1997-2004. Journilism Studies, 5, 3, 325-338

Pease,Andrew and Brewer, Paul, E (2008) The Oprah Factor:The Effects of a Celebrity Endorsement in a Primary Campaign. The International Journal of Press/politics. 2008 :13 386-400

WWE Corporate -2008 news releases 2008, retrieved from http://corporate.wwe.com

WWE Alumni , 2011, Retrieved from http://us.wwe.com/superstars/wwealumni/therock)

WWE Smackdown Your Vote, 2008, Retrieved from http://vote.wwe.com/press).

25 Most Powerful Women of The Past Century (2010, November 18) Time Magazine retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0, 28804, 2029774_2029776_2031799,00.html

(CBS Poll: Oprah‟s Support May Help Obama (2009, February) CBS News. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/08/opinion/polls/main3244412.shtml)

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(Obama Attends Star Studded Fund Raiser at Oprah‟s California Estate, (2007 September,), http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296168,00.html)

(Obama Forgoes Public Funding in First for Major Candidate, New York Times, (June 2006), Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/us/politics/20obamacnd.html)

Obama‟s Win Means Future Elections Must be Fought Online (2008,7 November) Guardian Newspaper. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/07/barackobama-uselections2008)

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