Once the power of passive engagement communications was demonstrated, it was virtually inevitable that it would be picked up in areas of endeavor beyond the hawking of consumer goods.  Before long, political communications also found themselves transformed by techniques of passive-engagement communications.

Politicians have, of course, always made a certain amount of use of visual symbols.  We thus have a standard image of the stereotypical Senator Snort being photographed successively in a farmer's straw hat, a fireman's helmet, and an Indian chief's headdress. 

But more recent trends have elevated these techniques and their derivatives from mere incidental gimmickry to the central thrust of mainstream political campaigns.