If touching Social Security is the third rail of politics (a metaphor for subjects so controversial that merely referencing them can mean the instant death of one’s political career), then touching politics is the third rail of marketing. Including politics in one’s marketing often means alienating 50 percent or more of one’s potential customer base, and not just temporarily but perhaps permanently.
Marketing expert Derek Halpern of SocialTriggers says “Marketing + politics = disaster.” A study from J. Walter Thompson Intelligence found that politics can be such a turn off that political ads have a negative effect on the performance of ads that follow them, even if those subsequent ads have nothing to do with politics.
