Creating content, influencing democracy: situating corporate political communication between marketing and activism

This thesis investigates the commercial backlash to a contentious piece of legislation in North Carolina and considers the implications of commercial incorporation of political content on public service communications. Commercial actors have high social standing and a privileged relationship with the social platforms used to disseminate much of commercial speech. In their pursuit of direct relationships with consumers, unmediated by publishers and free of the distrust of advertisement that has often characterized consumer-marketer relations, brands have cultivated content marketing practices based on serving consumer interests. Access to analytical tools allows companies to evaluate the success of content, eventually creating an environment in which most companies feel comfortable taking political stands in a way they did not before the widespread adoption of social media. Closer examination of political speech by commercial entities reveals strategies of communication that undermine avenues for public exchange and short-circuit non-market means of protest.