Evolution of Political Branding: Typologies,Diverse Settings and Future Research

Political branding has developed into an established and vibrant sub-discipline of political marketing. Indeed, political branding research continues to push boundaries by critically applying consumer based branding theories, concepts and frameworks to the political environment. Recently, political branding scholars have segmented research into different categories such as corporate, candidate, leader, local-regional, internal or external in orientation. Despite this development, there continues to be limited research on alternative or different typologies of political brands. This study reaffirms political branding as a distinct area of research and discusses how political brands can be conceptualised and operationalised. Further, drawing on seven empirical and conceptual papers, which focus on different typologies of political brands from a range of international contexts including Canada, USA, Iceland, Indonesia and India, we reflect on the current political branding environment. We conclude that there are multiple relationships and numerous interconnected political brands, which represent an intricate environment or ecosystem. This study offers academics and political actors guidance on how to conceptualise political brands and provides a starting point to map out the ecosystems of political brands. Finally, this study provides explicit calls for further research in political branding.     

Stressful Childhood Experiences and Clinical Outcomes in People with Serious Mental Illness: a Gender Comparison in a Clinical Psychiatric Sample

Objective: This study examines stressful childhood experiences (SCE) including childhood abuse and family context in a cohort of 183 people diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) and compares gender specific rates of SCE and clinical outcome variables. Methods: 111 men and 72 women with SMI were interviewed regarding SCE and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, dissociative symptoms, risk for self-harm, and adult re-victimization. Results: Both genders endorse high rates of SCE. Cumulative SCE (the sum of seven SCE) are linked to increased levels of all four outcome variables after adjusting for demographic factors. Conclusions: The study addresses the need to assess cumulative SCE in a population with SMI and its effects on clinical outcomes in both genders.