Politics & Marketing: Who’s Selling Who? And Who Really Pays For It?

Why does it feel like most political ideologies we’re exposed to these days is actually influencer marketing in a serious suit?

That’s because politics is marketing, and marketing is politics. The lines are so blurred, you can barely tell which one you're consuming anymore. @sighswoon put it perfectly when calling it “a sort of script repeated before you’re sold something else”.

“I believe in this, so you should buy into this” is basically the eternal marketing modality. It's not surprising, but still good to be aware of, as it’s being weaponized harder than ever.

Not just to move products - but to move minds.

I say this as someone who has watched so many people post The Script™ online and then live lives that completely contradict it. Because it’s not about real beliefs anymore. It’s about marketing. - period.

We left the "customer is king" era a long time ago, probably around the time bots started leaving reviews. Now, it’s a cult. It’s all belief-based marketing: pick your allegiance, swear your loyalty, and consume accordingly.

An article will go viral and scream at you "THIS is the new ideology that matters now! No previous ideologies matter! Disregard them all!” or “this is what the 'good guys' are doing, you should do it too.” And immediately, a train of products, services, influencers, and “thought leaders” rolls out to support it.

You’re not just buying a product anymore. You’re buying a belief.

A side. A coalition. And your purchases, your follows, your reposts - they’re treated like votes. And most of the time, the brands don’t care what side you pick. They just want you to pick a side. Because loyalty = spending. Division = revenue. That’s the game - and it’s never been easier for them.

Everything now is "right-coded" or "left-coded," no matter how stupidly mundane: Your shoes? Political. Your coffee order? So right-leaning babe. Your freaking pancake mix? Probably too woke.

Welcome to the marketer’s paradise:

Manufactured tribalism. Endless outrage. Eternal brand engagement. Politics sell products, and products sell politics. The feedback loop is never-ending.

Writers, artists and thinkers point toward a future free of binary thinking, where the truth is complicated, messy and bigger than these manufactured "sides". But marketing is not built for complexity - it need simplicity to thrive. It needs us vs. them. It needs you to pock a team and stay mad about the other side - because anger keeps the machine running.

But this isn’t anything new - it's all innate human behaviour (just the Instagram-sponsored version of it).

There's one thing I need you to remember from this as marketing becomes more politically coded: its just another product. It’s just milk. It’s a vitamin. It's bloody pancake mix. Be objective and normal. Each side is playing the same game, and ultimately it's all about trying to sell you something.

So please, don't fall for the ideologies. Do your own damn coding. 

-Sophie, Writer