Nottingham University Business School symposium tackles rise of cynicism and misinformation in politics

Dr Christopher Pich delivering the opening talk at the symposium

Last week, policymakers, academics, and practitioners attended an event at Nottingham University Business School to discuss how marketing concepts and frameworks can strengthen democratic voter engagement. 

The symposium, Marketing for Greater Good: Strategies to Strengthen Democratic Engagement – held on Wednesday 9 April 2025 – aimed to share the latest insights on how to strengthen engagement with voters through the lens of ‘political marketing’ and to present a toolkit on how to tackle the rise of cynicism and misinformation in politics. The number of people engaging in the electoral process indicates democratic health. However, voter disengagement, cynicism, and a widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation are on the rise, and this trend is not restricted to one jurisdiction. In fact, voter engagement has been declining across the globe since the beginning of the 1990s, and this growing trend raises many concerns among policymakers, researchers, and elected officials. 

The symposium featured talks from expert speakers over three sessions, where speakers examined how marketing principles and frameworks can be used to co-develop and coordinate strategies and programmes to impact policy on civic engagement, voter engagement and citizenship. 

Session one focused on the latest academic insights on voter engagement in political marketing and communications. There were talks from Professor Paul Baines (University of Leicester), Professor Caitlin Milazzo (Head of Politics, University of Nottingham), and Professor Roger Mortimore (King's College London and Director of Polling at Ipsos).

Session two featured presentations from politicians in attendance, on insights related to democratic engagement from The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer (former leader of the House of Commons, and former Chief Whip), Deputy Carina Alves (Assistant Chief Minister of Jersey), and Chris Curtis MP (Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes North, and former Political Research Manager at YouGov).

The event finished with a engaging panel discussion with Professor Dianne Dean (Sheffield Hallam), Liz Moorse (Association for Citizenship Teaching), Marcus Jones (Jaguar Land Rover and CEO of the East Midlands Enterprise Foundation), and Remi Olokun (My Life My Say) debating the topic 'How can we counter the rise in misinflrmstion and disinformation'?

Dr Christopher Pich, Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing, Tourism and Analytics, who hosted the event, said:  

This was an inspiring, thought-provoking and stimulating symposium which brought together academics, policymakers, practitioners, charities and students to discuss the use of marketing strategies to strengthen voter-democratic engagement in national and international contexts. We had 37 organisations represented at the event along with 57 delegates in attendance.  If voter disengagement continues to rise, it poses direct threats to the integrity of electoral democracy, the stability and governance of states and empowers disruptive voices, ideologies, and messages. Therefore, research examining voter engagement, disengagement and re-engagement remains a priority issue and an under-developed and under-researched area of study for researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

Educational outreach as a key strategy

A core approach to boosting voter engagement is the creation of targeted outreach programmes in schools and colleges. These initiatives can equip future voters with impartial knowledge about the electoral process and the value of civic participation.

A 2023 House of Lords report (The Ties that Bind) highlighted the urgent need to overhaul current civic education efforts, especially as the Labour Government considers lowering the voting age to 16 and launched a consultation on youth strategy in 2024.

Jersey’s approach to strengthening voter engagement 

The Crown Dependency of Jersey is one jurisdiction that has witnessed similar challenges to the UK, with inconsistent and limited civic and voter engagement programmes. Jersey is responding to this identified problem and is in the process of co-developing targeted outreach programmes designed to strengthen these programmes in educational institutions across the island. Since 2022, Dr Pich has led a collaborative research project supported by the Government of Jersey which has resulted in an agenda to co-design, deliver, and appraise targeted educational programmes for different stakeholder groups in Jersey ahead of the island’s 2026 General Election. 

It is envisaged the co-designed targeted educational programmes will develop into an island-wide curriculum framework for policy makers, strategists, and industry specialists, which will strengthen voter engagement and reaffirm the importance of civic responsibility and citizenship. 

Expanding impact beyond Jersey

Finally, there is clear applicability and upscaling opportunities for the co-designed targeted outreach programmes and co-developed curriculum framework to contexts (local, regional, national, and international) beyond Jersey. This will go some way in addressing disengagement, cynicism and the widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation. 

If you want to find out more about the event, contact Dr Christopher Pich, Associate Professor in Marketing via christopher.pich@nottingham.ac.uk