Anyone watching the media or live election events must by now be aware the advertising and Public relations industries run the national elections. They frame the messages, train the candidates on how to present effectively, create and produce ads, media appearances, special events, election materials, and on and on. With billions of dollars available, their reach and penetration into the political process is immeasurable.

Candidates are “packaged” like cereal and celebrities, movies and TV shows.

Yes, Presidential candidates deserve professional communications advice and support, but the outsized funding now pouring into the campaigns, this “packaging” pf the candidates has become abusive of truth and credibility, in my view. If we had election funding controls, the abuse of ad/PR capabilities in national elections could be put back into proper perspective.

Let’s put the marketing genie back into the political bottle!