ABSTRACT Visual Political Brand Identities in the 2018 U.S. Midterm Election Katie Orgunov Director: Dr. Chris Pullig Political candidates’ logos can shape voters’ perceptions of candidates and inform them of candidates’ political brands through their design. This paper explores the design elements used in logos and their relationships with the candidate and views them in terms of brand differentiators and boundary conditions. Through conducting a content analysis on a stratified sample of thirty candidate logos from the 2018 U.S. midterm election, this study found that there are significant relationships between logo elements such as colors, typefaces, and text, and candidate characteristics such as gender, political party, incumbency status, and geographic region. A semiotic analysis of the same sample further revealed how logos were often reflective of a candidate’s platform or personal identity. These findings are reflective of a shift in American politics that increases the importance of branding and design in campaigns. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS: ________________________________________________ Dr. Chris Pullig, Marketing APPROVED BY THE HONORS PROGRAM: ________________________________________________ Dr. Elizabeth Corey, Director DATE: _________________________ VISUAL POLITICAL BRAND IDENTITIES IN THE 2018 U.S. MIDTERM ELECTION A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty Of Baylor University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Program By Katie Orgunov Waco, Texas August 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Figures ................................................................................................................. iii Table of Tables .................................................................................................................. iv Preface: Inspiration for Thesis Topic .................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Dedication ......................................................................................................................... vii Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter Two: Literary Search and Development of Case Pool .......................................... 7 Chapter Three: Content Analysis ...................................................................................... 23 Chapter Four: Semiotic Analysis ...................................................................................... 36 Chapter Five: Results and Discussion............................................................................... 79 Appendices:....................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix A: Coding Instructions ................................................................................. 83 Appendix B: Coding Results ......................................................................................... 87 Appendix C: Chi-Square Tests ...................................................................................... 88 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 93 ii TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1: Brand Distinctiveness (Source: Scammell 2015)……………………………….9 Figure 2: Tripartite Model………………………………………………………………. 17 Figure 3: United States Geographical Regions………………………………………….. 19 Figure 4: Aaron Swisher………………………………………………………………… 39 Figure 5: Bush ’92………………………………………………………………………. 40 Figure 6: Craig Keller………………………………………………………………….... 41 Figure 7: Grace F. Napolitano……………………………..……………………………. 42 Figure 8: Joshua Scott…………………………………………………………………… 44 Figure 9: Lucille Roybal-Allard………………………………………………………… 45 Figure 10: Russ Fulcher…………...…………………………………………………….. 47 Figure 11: Dan Crenshaw……………………………………………………………….. 48 Figure 12: Jana Lynne Sanchez…………………………………………………………. 50 Figure 13: Kyrsten Synema……………………………………………………………... 51 Figure 14: Mike Siegel…………………………………………………………………...52 Figure 15: Ted Cruz……………………………………………………………………... 53 Figure 16: Anita Malik………………………………………………………………….. 55 Figure 17: Dean Phillips………………………………………………………………… 56 Figure 18: Jason Smith………………………………………………………………….. 58 Figure 19: Kimberly Bizon……………………………………………………………… 59 Figure 20: Randy Bryce…………………………………………………………………. 60 Figure 21: Tina Smith…………………………………………………………………… 61 Figure 22: Bill Johnson………………………………………………………………….. 62 Figure 23: Justin Kanew………………………………………………………………… 64 Figure 24: Mike Espy…………………………………………………………………….65 Figure 25: Roger W. Allison……………………………………………………………..66 Figure 26: Roger W. Allison Outline………………………………………………….…67 Figure 27: Trent Kelly………………………………………………………………....... 68 Figure 28: 90’s Pepsi logo………………………………………………………………. 69 Figure 29: Carol Miller………………………………………………………………….. 69 Figure 30: Debbie Wasserman Schultz………………………………………………..…71 Figure 31: Chrissy Houlahan……………………………………………………………. 72 Figure 32: Gotham Houlahan…………………………………………………………….72 Figure 33: Glenn Thompson…………………………………………………………….. 73 Figure 34: Joseph D. Morelle…………………………………………………………….74 Figure 35: Mikie Sherrill………………………………………………………………... 75 Figure 36: McCain-Palin…………………………………………………………………76 Figure 37: Steny H. Hoyer………………………………………………………………. 76 Figure 38: Ayanna Pressley……………………………………………………………... 77 iii TABLE OF TABLES Table 1: Sample…………………………………………………………………………. 21 Table 2: Coding Variation……..………………………………………………………... 25 Table 3: Color Frequency……………………………………………………………….. 26 Table 4: GENDER * RWB Crosstabulation…………………………………………….. 27 Table 5: GENDER * BLUE Crosstabulation………………………………………….....27 Table 6: GENDER * ORANGE Crosstabulation……………………………………..… 28 Table 7: GENDER * GREEN Crosstabulation………………………………………..… 28 Table 8: GENDER * GRAY Crosstabulation…………………………………………… 29 Table 9: PARTY * RWB Crosstabulation…………………………………………….… 29 Table 10: Typeface Frequency………………………………………………………...…30 Table 11: INCUMBENT * SANS SERIF Crosstabulation…………………………...… 30 Table 12: INCUMBENT * SERIF Crosstabulation……………………………………...31 Table 13: Name Styling Frequency……………………………………………………... 32 Table 14: Text Frequency……………………………………………………………..… 32 Table 15: PARTY * SLOGAN Crosstabulation………………………………………… 33 Table 16: REGION * MENTION STATE Crosstabulation…………………………….. 34 Table 17: Symbol Inclusion Frequency…………………………………………………. 34 Table 18: Symbol Frequency………………………………………………………….… 35 iv PREFACE Inspiration for Thesis Topic In the months leading up to the 2018 midterm election, I witnessed a deluge of yard signs, stickers, and buttons around Waco neighborhoods and the Baylor campus that read “Beto For Senate”. This particular campaign logo caught my eye not only because I saw it repeatedly, but because it bore an unusual font and a black-and-white color palette that was more reminiscent of a Whataburger sauce container than a political sign. I began thinking and reading about political logo designs and quickly realized that political campaigning is evolving from a traditional RWB patriotic template to include complex personal branding and marketing principles, initially sparking my idea for this thesis topic. The next semester, I took Strategic Brand Management with Dr. Chris Pullig, my thesis advisor, and was able to gain a knowledge foundation that aided me throughout this project. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have been possible without the help and expertise of my thesis advisor, Dr. Chris Pullig, who took on this responsibility on top of an already incredibly busy schedule and faithfully offered his knowledge and experience in research and data analysis to aid with this project. The project could not have been finalized without Jim Roberts and Eric Eckert, whose cheerful assistance I am grateful for. I am also thankful to Ben Allen, who contributed his time to aide in the content analysis and balance out any personal bias present in my classifications. vi DEDICATION To my God, to my family, and to my future husband: Thank you for supporting me on this journey. vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction "Design is personality. When used well in election campaigns branding it says more than a candidate’s name. Color, type, and image contribute to the perception of that name, sometimes the person, too" noted Heller on Twitter. Maybe that's part of the triumphant case of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the Democrats' biggest stars from this midterm cycle and officially the youngest woman elected to US Congress. Cortez ditched the red, white and blue palette and chose purple instead. "The color represents red and blue coming together and Tandem also used nontraditional yellow to associate positivity with Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign. Blue is the third official color, which is the Democrat’s traditional hue" reports Vox. "Arenas, Starrett, and the Tandem team looked to revolutionary posters and visuals from the past to inspire Ocasio-Cortez’s branding — particularly those of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, Latino labor activists and co-founders of the United Farm Workers in the 1960s — and union badges. 'That was the closest representation to a populist, social-minded, justice-inclined, inspirational campaign that was about positivity and taking back the power,' Starrett says". "Ocasio-Cortez’s designs clearly reference 20th-century leftist propaganda posters, and her poster’s color scheme and Heroic Everywoman photo evoke the