Driving Political Opinion

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but graphic designers have a lot to do with what our eyes see. And when it comes to politicians we brand them in order to sell them as commodities.

Part of that "branding" is the development of a look. In large part that "look" is how the candidate appears in ink on paper. From bumper stickers to yard signs to direct mail advertisements, graphic designers help shape the message of the candidate by the selection of colors, fonts, and graphics.

One of the most interesting design stories of recent times is how George W. Bush became a brand – W, a/k/a 'Dubya.'

Jeremy Hockett of Michigan State University wrote about the semiotic and symbolic messages in the Brand W campaign which targeted "a 'meaning system' that targets celebrity, rather than rational, political reaction." Criticizing how marketing and advertising techniques are exploited to create a celebrity out of a politician, Hockett says "political discourse itself becomes reduced to a war of images rather than ideas, resulting in a democratic process that is increasingly dysfunctional and strategically divisive."

Brand Bush was and continues to be sold at www.GeorgeWBushStore.com which is operated by Spalding Group, a Lexington, Kentucky company that bills itself as "The Republican Source for Web, Print & Design." Today the company maintains the www.rudy2008store.com .

Hockett writes:

"The transition from ‘W’ to ‘Dubya’ is an extraordinary exercise in semiotic intention, indicative of a movement from a dictionary entry such as ‘w (dub-əlyoo), the 23rd letter of the modern English alphabet’ to ‘W (dub-ya), the 43rd president of the United States’. It is also a remarkable instance of orthographic (the representation of sounds of a language by written or printed symbols) evolution. For a sardonic Liberal the ‘W’ designation is an easy target of derision. George W. becomes ‘G. Dub’ya’, as to ridicule the southern drawl that would ostensibly accompany it, that is, as a means to mock Bush’s ignorant, intolerant ‘redneck’
supporters. Then, in an ironic twist that only the postmodern condition could potentiate, the putative ‘rednecks’ in turn embrace it much in the same way that ‘queer’ and ‘nigger’ have been re-appropriated, redefined and vaunted."

On the concept of branding Hockett says:

"Brand consciousness in the United States has undoubtedly reached a level of neurosis if politicians have themselves become nothing more than a brand name, if the marketing of a politician has been debased to such an extent that substance no longer means anything, and if debating the virtues of a presidential brand has become the basis for making election choices. Yet it does indeed seem to be the case, on the part of voters, campaigns, and the media."

The candidate is more than a politician, the candidate morphs into a product line, and with brand identity there ironically become issues of copyright infringement. In the case of the Bush campaign and Spaulding, one of the Bush logos, the W on a black background was similar enough to a logo used by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide that the hotel corporation sent a “cease and desist order ‘to two political merchandisers, demanding they remove the letter ‘W’ – as in ‘George W. Bush’ – from apparel and accessories they are selling, ‘that mimic the trade dress of the W hotels, which has the effect of eroding the unique brand identity developed in the W logo.’ But other than the New Your Post article, which appeared in the gossip section, only Fox News seems to have reported on the action."

Then in April 2005, David Koening of the Associated Press reported a story about a lawsuit brought by Jerry Gosset of Wichita Falls, Texas and his of Wichita Falls, Texas and his company, Rally Concepts, LLC., against the Republican National Committee and the Spalding Group for copying his 2001 design of a 'W 43' bumper sticker. Gosset's company sued in federal court for copyright infringement and civil conspiracy. In August 2006, Gosset's motion for summary judgment was granted in part regarding the misappropriation claim, but the summary judgment was denied on the claims for unfair competition and civil conspiracy.

Hocket, J. (2005). Brand "W" and the marketing of an American president" or, logos as logos. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. 2(2):72-96.