Digital Political Marketing in Africa

Tracing the evolution of digital political marketing across Africa, this book unpacks new technologies and approaches to political campaigns and their influence on elections.

In this ‘disrupted age’, politicians, elites, and citizens engage with politics in the digital sphere more than ever before, influencing high-stakes elections. This book examines the emerging practices of political marketing in Africa from Tik Tok to YouTube. It analyses AI use, celebrity endorsements, and big data decision-making in African elections.

As digital platforms expand, voters and candidates can now easily connect with each other. This book unpacks how, in this process, the power dynamics between the voters and incumbents are increasingly being (re)shaped and digital tools turn voters into citizen political marketers.

Rather than being merely liberative, digital political marketing also has negative consequences on democracy. Chapters in this book examine the deployment of dark political marketing campaigns and explores how digital ecosystems have strengthened negative political marketing.

Bringing together international scholars, this volume untangles the complex new developments in digital political marketing across African contexts.