Australian election slogans, 1949-2004: where political marketing meets political rhetoric

Deposited with permission of the Australian Journal of CommunicationThe development of election slogans in Australia over the past five decades reveals much about how electioneering practice and political rhetoric have changed. In the 1940s and 1950s, election campaigns were short-term, ad hoc, and localised, and slogans were used only sporadically but with increased professionalisation. From the 1960s to the 1980s, political parties began using official campaign slogans in a far more disciplined and centralised manner. By the late 1990s, the Labor and Liberal parties were developing slogans through a process of intensive market research. Although originally spoken, shouted or sung, campaign strategists have adapted slogans to new forms of media and technology