Abstract
In an image-obsessed media age, the notion that the way a politician “looks” is important might appear almost obvious. Yet, the amount of anecdotal evidence about the relevance of personal image and self-presentation in politics is not matched by a comparable volume of rigorous academic research. This section outlines the rationale for the study presented in this book and the contributions it makes to our understanding of political communication in the twenty-first century.
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Notes
Napoleon was proclaimed emperor in May 1804. He commissioned Jacques-Louis David to paint the coronation to glorify the event and convey its political and symbolic meaning. As in the tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon was consecrated emperor by a pope. Napoleon, however, crowned himself facing the congregation rather than the altar to mark his independence from the Church. As Malika Bouabdellah Dorbani (n.d.) observes, ‘Although David’s initial sketch represented the Emperor in the act of crowning himself, the final painting shows him crowning the Empress–a gesture that presents a nobler, less authoritarian image, described by Napoleon himself as that of a “French knight”’.
While in this book ‘mediatization’ refers to the “Americanization” and “sensationalization” of politics, mainly through marketing, spin and media management, it is true that the term can be used more broadly to refer to the blurring of the boundary between the political and media dimensions (see, for instance, Hoskins and O’Loughlin 2010, especially chapter 2).
The record total cost of the election campaign was $1,052,500,697. After ‘political consultants’, the second item in terms of scope of expenditure is ‘broadcast media’ at $157,319,619. The cost of media consultants ($322,801,280) exceeded the actual expenditure on ‘broadcast media’, ‘Internet media’, ‘miscellaneous media’ and ‘print media’ combined ($260,978,352). This expenditure breakdown was last accessed and saved in the author’s records in February 2013. At the time of writing (August 2013), however, the category ‘political consultants’ appears to have been removed and buried under ‘unspecified media buys’.
For a guide about the significance of dress in business, see Comfort (2006).
Jenny Murray (presenter), ‘The Handbag: A Symbol of Female Power and Style?’, Radio 4, Woman’s Hour, 5 May 2011, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b010t6lk.
As examples of literature about specific women politicians, Scammell (1996) and Conway (2012) write about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Winfield (1997) about Hillary Clinton as First Lady.
http://www.barbara-follett.org.uk/biography/index.html.
http://www.facebook.com/FearRicksVest.
Donald Braben (2004; 2011) develops a range of arguments for pioneering research that does not need to be supported by high budgets. The idea of guerrilla research was further inspired by a presentation by Ross Unger (2011) about ‘Guerrilla Research Methods’ in the field of computer user experience (‘UX’). I am here applying the principles of zero-cost, short-term research conducted through whatever means are at the investigator’s disposal to produce valuable knowledge that was not available before. The bottom line, as Unger and Todd Zaki Warfel pragmatically put it, is that ‘after all, some good research is better than none’.
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© 2014 Cristina Archetti
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Archetti, C. (2014). Introduction. In: Politicians, Personal Image and the Construction of Political Identity: A Comparative Study of the UK and Italy. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353429_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353429_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46968-0
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