It’s that time of the year again, where we see a multitude
of political campaigns trying to sway our vote from one candidate to another.
We’re not only bombarded with presidential campaigns, but also with senate
campaigns, like this one:
According to the
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) politicians are now spending more and more
on advertising, as much as $2.6 billion for local TV ads. They’ve come to realize
that most Americans don’t have the time or resources to become fully educated
about the issues and the candidates’ stance on them. So instead they try to
sway as many voters as they can in a 30-second spot, often relying on the
voters’ emotions more than factual arguments. As in the ad above, they play on
voters’ emotions through a number of techniques.
One of the first things noticed in the ad, is the use of a personal connection. Sandy Fonzo looks
like someone we might run into on the streets or even have as a neighbor. As
she tells her story, we notice that she is distraught and we empathize with
her. We can relate to her story and know that we do not want the same thing to
happen to our children. Leventhal describes this as fear plus direction equals
action. We do not want Ted Cruz to put a price on our children so we need to
keep Cruz out of office for our children to be safe.
Another technique used is conditioning. Makosky says that it’s not always what is being said, but how it’s being said. Sandy Fonzo’s words
are paired with music that elicits sadness. In a study by Yahui Kang and Joseph
N. Cappella, they found that “one’s emotional responses are in fact determined
by how the event is verbally described and thus determined by the content of
the message.” Fonzo’s distraught face paired with sad music reinforces the
empathy we feel for what she is saying. We too think that Ted Cruz should be
ashamed for putting a price on a human being.
A last technique used is that of vivid example versus statistics. We are shown an emotional
testimonial of what Ted Cruz’s actions did to these children and what the
effect was for Fonzo’s child in particular, but we don’t see any statistics to
back this claim. Even if statistics were
presented, it’s unlikely they’d have much impact alone, as we tend to remember
the vivid example much more than the
numbers.
These examples demonstrate just a few of the many techniques
used in political advertisements to win over voters. Facts alone don’t persuade
people to vote for a candidate, so candidates must appeal to emotions such as
patriotism, love of family, hope, fear, and as in the case of this anti-Ted
Cruz ad- disgust.
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| Rosie Mata mata910@regis.edu
Kang, Yahui., & Cappella, Joseph. N. (2008). Emotional
reactions to and perceived effectiveness of media messages: Appraisal and
message sensation value. 27(1), 40-61.
Goldberg, Laura. (2012, October 02). IAB Research Shows Digital Media on
the Upswing for Election 2012,
Political Strategies Predict Bigger Spends in Future National Elections.
Retrieved from
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/oct/02/iab-research-shows-digital-media-on-the-upswing/
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