The Press Polishes the McCain "Brand"

John McCain's all-around maverick-ness is being elevated by the media into an iconic brand status, right alongside Ford and Nike. The media, which admire the corporatization of campaigns, are hugely impressed by the development.

Indeed, the term "brand" conjures up an impenetrable, irrevocable image; an entrenched vision that cannot be altered. In the business world, it often takes a catastrophic event to change people's perception of a well-established and respected brand.

So in a way, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for the press. By discussing McCain in terms of a formal brand, they're suggesting that McCain's reputation as a maverick has become so embedded, so ingrained, that it has transcended into a formal trademark. And since it's a brand, who are journalists to question it or to alter it?

Read the full Media Matters column here.