210067 SE BAK16 Culture and Politics (2012W)

Branding is a phenomenon that is no longer limited to commercial environments. In recent years it has been adopted as a form of strategic intervention in other spheres. It has been applied to entire cities and even states and government agencies. Branding is perhaps the most dominant form of marketing discourse currently in circulation and recently has become an object of research and measurement. Although branding is ubiquitous, yet its functions in politics are still hardly theorized. If brands exist as cultural, ideological, and political objects, then researchers require tools developed to understand culture, politics, and ideology, in conjunction with more typical branding concepts (e.g. visual persuasion).
The course presents sophisticated and focused brand research, drawing from recent work in brands and their multiple roles in order to understand brands at a deeper cultural level: What role does branding play in contemporary politics? How do political entities (like the European Union) make use of it?