Although Lord Young adopted a rather sceptical view towards this, the idea of political marketing has existed since the start of the 20th century, when the first Press Officers and Press Bureau were introduced by the Conservative government in 1911 to revolutionise party propaganda (Wring 1996). Since then, the government's eagerness to effectively communicate their policies through the media and for the public has risen dramatically over time in conjunction with new methods of marketing.

Margaret Thatcher's election in 1975 proved to be significant in the way in which politics would be marketed, with the establishment of a working relationship with advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi and the introduction of a marketing department to distil the party message into a few readily understandable appeals (Wring 1996). Thatcher and her marketing team also began to implement campaigns to belittle and undermine the Labour government, a tactic that seems to have become a favourite of today's political parties.

One of New Labour's main aims when they came to power in 1997 was to secure a complimentary public image and ensure they were always presented in a good light. Their devotion and commitment towards advertising has meant they are the number one buyer of advertising in the UK, spending huge sums of taxpayers' money on presentation, self-promotion and, especially close to election time, criticism of the Conservative Party. The political agenda seems now to be based around the idea of image not policy, with the development of the GICS, the SCU and the Press Office led by Alastair Campbell, all working to purify and protect the public image of the Labour government and 'exterminating' anyone who gets in their way.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Grange Hill, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Andrew Marr, Unit SCU, Election Broadcasts, Saatchi Saatchi, Harold Wilson, Service GICS, Saatchi Labour, labour government, franklin 1999, government's policies, taxpayers' money, public eye, buyer advertising uk, 1998 government, press officers, style substance, policies media, power 1997,
Approximate Word count = 2153
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)