Voters Perception towards Branding among Indian Politicians

Abstract

This paper focuses on the perception of voters toward branding of Indian Politicians and their parties. An attempt has been made to understand how voters’ behavior and perception is psychologically influenced when a politician or a political party becomes a brand. This paper has mainly stressed upon studying various aspects which makes a political actor as a national or international brand. Once these brands are established in the minds of political consumers, are able to create a distinguished approach during electoral competition. The public image along with their national and international recognition of a political leader and his party, when attached to branding helps a lot in creating voters loyalty. In a country like India, numerous strategies have been adopted in the political system to woo voters through local and social media in the recent past. The present study has randomly selected the most accepted Indian political brands like Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and other left parties. A survey of 300 voters has been done who casted their valuable vote in Lok Sabha Election 2014. Chi Square test of Independence, ANOVA and Garrett Ranking has been used to analyze the results. This study has concluded the public image of Mr. Narendra Modi has helped him in becoming the most favorite brand in India. This paper has also felt the need of further research to determine the role of branding and political marketing in changing the perception of the electorates