Niche Marketing to National Voters Goes Back to 19th Century
An article today in the New York Times discussed the hot button topic following George Bush’s victory in 2004, the role of “security moms� in his re-election. We have heard of “soccer moms� and “security moms� as if these were new issues. The Times article even notes that women have been separate from men in terms of their votes since at least 1980 though it seems likely that local and state voting has been diverse since the end of World War II.
The Internet has caused the mainstream media to hop on board with buzz words and industry language that sounds ridiculous when it comes out of the mouths of reporters. “Security moms� sounds like a bad ABC drama or a ridiculous category on a pie chart targeting women with children who are getting bullied. The Times and other newspapers should link so much to the hype of these words. While it seems like the mainstream media makes up these words and attaches them to situations, they are only a vessel to move these words into common parlance.
Most Americans don’t realize that niche marketing in presidential elections goes back to 1896. William McKinley’s campaign manager was Mark Hanna, a business insider and future Ohio senator who plastered McKinley’s visage on advertisements like he was a new brand of soap. The Republican Party under McKinley divided the country based on its stance on the gold standard and prosperity as defined by the Northeastern elites. You can go back further to the 1828 election of Andrew Jackson who hoped to define himself as a person of the frontiersman and a foe of the banker. “Wal-Mart Women� (something I do not relish typing) is only a new term for a very old technique in politics.
Newspapers, cable news shoes and other mainstream media outlets need to relax. Take a deep breath, editors of the Times, and think about putting your stories in plain English instead of the hot marketing terms of the day. I know that newspapers aren’t supposed to stand the test of time but they should try their best to give analysis that doesn’t wear out while I finish reading an article. It is okay for a newspaper especially one as prominent as the New York Times to bypass the latest fad and provide normal analysis without terms like “soccer moms.�
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