The Hyper–Masculine Campaign: Party Leader Brand Image, Heteronormativity and the 2021 Canadian Federal Election

This chapter takes an interest in Canadian party leaders’ mobilization of hypermasculine political communication and marketing strategies during the 2021 federal election. Building on a visual and textual content analysis of Instagram posts and digital ads shared by leaders of all major federal parties, this paper shows how leadership was framed as in a highly contested, personalized and masculine electoral race. Leaders used image-making and messaging techniques leveraging metaphors, images and frames building on and emphasizing their masculine traits. Most notably, Conservative Party of Canada’s (CPC) Erin O’Toole was pictured in a tight t-shirt on the frontpage of the CPC electoral program. He was also defined as “the man with the plan”. Other leaders used similar strategies throughout the campaign. This paper fills gaps in the academic literature in Canada as it unpacks the role of gender—most specifically masculinity—in party dynamics and identity political marketing in Canada. This chapter also makes a methodological contribution by developing a coding approach identifying direct and indirect appeals to masculinity in electoral political marketing strategies. Direct appeals include the highlighting of masculinity in political leadership, while indirect ones include discussions of political and policy issues related to elements of masculinity (e.g., strength, power, assertiveness). While some research has been done on identity-based uses of social media in political campaigns, this paper spotlights this dynamic in digital political communication and marketing, which has been under-researched. More broadly, it offers a timely look at the dynamics of digital political marketing during election campaigns.