Political advertising

Political advertisingThe dominant form of candidate communication with the electorate

Political advertisingTelevised political advertising is now the dominant form of communication between candidates and voters in the presidential elections and in most statewide contestsKaid, Political advertising

http://www.ciadvertising.org/student_account/fall_00/adv382j/derrellwilson/p2/politics.htmlEisenhower Answers America

UndecidedsThe swing vote in elections is made up largely of those persons who are relatively ill-informed, have a less-developed ideology and are swayed by late events, advertising and non-policy newsThey often decide the elections, though, and are a major target of candidatesGoing negative can work here

Content of political advertisingClose analysis of the actual content of political advertising has been rather limitedRelatively recent area of studyFocused heavily on the presidential campaignAvailability of historic advertisingMost money, most sophisticated advertisingPopular and scholarly focus on presidential contest

Issues v. imagesMost advertising focuses on issues rather than image78% of 2000 presidential campaign ads (historic high)However, the percentage of spots with specific policy issue information was much lower than the overall number of issue spotsVague, general statementsClaims without context (often misleading or even false)Researchers have come to conclude that the two are intertwined and inseparable

Issues

Proportion of ads emphasizing issuesFear appealsBush85%19%Kerry79%5%

2004 Issue Mentions (source: Kaid)

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0.270.20.170.220.350.20.150.250.140.03

0.450.250.190.050.160.190.060.480.050.07

Economy

Taxes

International affairs

Defense spending

Terrorism/Homeland security

War in Iraq/Afghanistan

Medicare/SS/Elderly

Health care

Education

Environment

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EconomyTaxesInternational affairsDefense spendingTerrorism/Homeland securityWar in Iraq/AfghanistanMedicare/SS/ElderlyHealth careEducationEnvironment

Bush27%20%17%22%35%20%15%25%14%3%

Kerry45%25%19%5%16%19%6%48%5%7%

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Kaid: The Television Advertising Battleground in the 2004 Preseidential Election

2004 Candidate character mentions (source: Kaid)

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0.090.250.290.240.10.170.12

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Honesty

Strength

Compassion

Competence

Aggressiveness

Activeness

Qualifications

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HonestyStrengthCompassionCompetenceAggressivenessActivenessQualifications

Bush9%25%29%24%10%17%12%

Kerry7%19%20%48%22%25%28%

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Negative v. positiveThere has been a significant increase in negativity over the last 30 years

Positive v. NegativeChallengers are more likely to engage in negative advertising, while incumbents tend to be positiveChallenger criticizing record, incumbent defending itAttack ads are more common in competitive races Most races against incumbents are long shotsNegative ads are more likely to be sponsored by parties or advocacy groupsNegative ads have more substantive issue information

Positive v. negativePositive ads tend to focus on the present or future Negative ads tend to focus on the past and express anger

2000 [all] elections(Wisconsin Ad Project)

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0.46

0.29

0.25

% of aired commercials

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% of aired commercials

Positive46%

Negative29%

Compare/Contrast25%

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Overall appeals

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0.420.58

0.660.34

Positive

Negative

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PositiveNegative

Bush42%58%

Kerry66%34%

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Ad themes 2004 (source: Kaid)

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0.660.340.71

Positive

Negative

Attack in ad

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PositiveNegativeAttack in ad

Bush42%58%53%

Kerry66%34%71%

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http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2008/http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

Attack ads 2004 (source: Kaid)

Personally attack opponentAnonymous attack on opponentAttack on issuesBush0%95%92%Kerry30%62%59%

Goldstein, Lessons learned

EmotionCommonly seen by professionals as the most important and effective appealPeople are not persuaded/moved by rational appealsMost political commercial use some form of emotional appeal

EmotionThe majority of political advertising relates in some way to emotionTony SchwartzFrank Luntz

What types of emotion are most often used?FearPrideEspecially national prideHopeLoveFamily

Appeals in presidential campaign advertising

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Logical

Emotional

Source credibility

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LogicalEmotionalSource credibility

Image ads57%83%83%

Issue ads81%78%52%

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Verbal content 2004

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0.930.580.190.05

Logical

Emotional

Ethical

Fear

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LogicalEmotionalEthicalFear

Bush81%54%12%19%

Kerry93%58%19%5%

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Emotion and cultural symbolsCommon use of non-rational appealsClearly a successful strategySpots contain an enormous amount of emotional content more emotional proof than logical or ethical proofAccording to Hart one must never underestimate the importance of that which advertising most reliably deliverspolitical emotion

Emotional appealsWinners use more words indicating activity and optimism than losers. Losers, alternately, demonstrated less certainty but higher realism in their spots.Ballotti & Kaid, 2000

http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2008/http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

Incumbent strategies

BushKerryUse of symbolic trappings15%0%Presidency stands for legitimacy12%0%Competency and the office25%5%Charisma and the office5%0%Emphasizing accomplishments25%12%Above-the-trenches posture7%0%Depending on surrogates to speak5%8%

Challenger strategies

BushKerryCalling for changes3%59%Speaking to traditional values31%13%Taking the offensive position19%16%Emphasizing optimism31%28%Attacking the record of the opponent61%54%

Types of adsDiamond and Bates:ID spotsArgument spotsCandidate causes, ideas, concernsAttack spotsVisionary spots

Types of commercialsDevlinTalking headsNegative spotsCinema veriteDocumentary spotsMan-in-the street spotsTestimonialsIndependent spotsJoslyn: Benevolent leader spots

Nonverbal content

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Candidate is speaker

Almost always makes eye contact

Smiling facial expression

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Candidate is speakerAlmost always makes eye contactSmiling facial expression

Bush12%11%37%

Kerry27%35%28%

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Production techniques

BushKerryComputer graphics92%80%Slow motion24%41%Fast motion15%1%Freeze frames14%14%Split screens17%26%Superimpositions20%13%Use of stills7%30%Black and white changes26%16%

Female candidatesFemale candidates tend to focus more on issues than men do, and to emphasize domestic issuesMay be more due to greater number of Democrats who are women than to gender

http://www.rbistrategies.com/content/37/rbi-strategies-and-research-winspollierdquo-awardshttp://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2008/http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/reportersblog/campaign_ads/