The importance of advertising in political campaigns
Brianna Denny
COM250 Leap 3
May 12th, 2024
Research question: How does advertising play a role in the importance of a politician’s success, and why does money play such an important role in this process?
Annotated Bibliography:
Chansky, Rachel. “The Ins and Outs of Political Advertising.” AX Insights, 16 Oct. 2023, audiencex.com/insights/political-advertising-guide/.
This article focuses on the framework for political advertising, and the way it works in relation to political campaigns. This gave me some general insight on the subject, and allowed me to further dive into its role in a campaign.
Corasaniti, Nick. “Do Political Ads Even Matter Anymore?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/us/politics/political-ads.html.
This article opened the question of whether or not advertising still has an impact on the world of politics. As there are so many contributing factors, this assisted me in understanding the argument on both ends of the spectrum. Finally allowing me to draw my own conclusions.
Dingfelder, Sadie. “The Science of Political Advertising.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Apr. 2012, apa.org/monitor/2012/04/advertising.
This journal article helped delve into the psychological aspects of advertising in a political setting. It is important to understand the importance of how ads affect individuals psychologically. A successful advertisement must leave a lasting impression on the consumer, and there is a particular way in which a political campaign can leave the desired subconscious impression.
Do Political Ads Work? Study Says Yes, but Nobody Knows Why — Politico, www.politico.com/news/2024/02/15/political-ad-effectiveness-study-00141622. Accessed 14 May 2024.
This article was extremely interesting to read, and one of my favorite sources that I included. This gave a very interesting perspective, and discussed the fact that advertising in political campaigns is highly important, but many individuals do not understand why it is that way.
Green, Matthew. “Ten of the Most Successful Presidential Campaign Ads Ever Made (with Lesson Plan).” KQED, 23 Mar. 2018, www.kqed.org/lowdown/3955/ten-of-the-best-presidential-campaign-commercials-of-all-time.
This source gives an example of the most successful campaigns in political history. This was incredibly beneficial to read about because it helped me understand the successful styles of advertising, and the factors they include in the media.
Lebow, Sara. “2024 Is a Huge Year for Political Advertising. What Does That Mean for Other Advertisers?” EMARKETER, EMARKETER, 20 Feb. 2024, www.emarketer.com/content/2024-huge-year-political-advertising-what-that-mean-other-advertisers.
This source was helpful due to its reference to the current year, and its acknowledgement of the factors that are important in the process of advertising. The author touched on the heightened draw to advertising in the current political climate, which assisted me in understanding the perspective that ads play a crucial role in it.
Political Advertising on Social Media Platforms, www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-in-2020/political-advertising-on-social-media-platforms/. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Social media is one of the most important aspects involved in a successful political campaign, as it is a major source of news for a lot of younger generations. It is also a controlled media, meaning that the subject of the ad has full control over the way they are portrayed, and how they go about this.
Political Advertising: What Effect on Commercial Advertisers, web.stanford.edu/~siyengar/research/papers/advertising.html. Accessed 14 May 2024.
This source was beneficial because it addressed some of the differences between commercial advertisers, and political campaign advertisers. While these individuals frequently overlap in job descriptions, it is very different managing those types of advertisements.
Tea, Michael. “Adtech for Elections: The Most Effective Political Advertising Techniques to Use in 2024.” Grapeseed Media, 29 Nov. 2023, grapeseedmedia.com/blog/political-advertising-techniques/.
This source was very helpful in research, because it showcased the main focus of successful advertising in 2024. This was beneficial to dive into to properly be aware of what a successful political ad campaign should look like in 2024.
What Makes Political Ads Truly Persuasive?, www.fastcompany.com/91033591/researchers-learned-what-makes-a-political-ad-truly-persuasive. Accessed 14 May 2024.
This article assisted with research as it touched on the ability ads have to be persuasive in political campaigns, which was something that assisted me mainly in the compare and contrast section of the work.
Compare and Contrast
Video:
Reflection Essay:
Brianna Denny
COM250 Leap 3
Reflection Essay
After completing this project, I was able to gain a better understanding of the importance of advertising in a political campaign. While I was aware that it was important prior to my personal research, the sources included a plethora of information that I did not fully understand. To begin, I wanted to understand the weight that advertising had generally on political campaigns. I felt that there were several mixed emotions and opinions regarding the subject, and through research I wanted to form an opinion that I was able to firmly defend. Through research, I found several articles that discussed a variety of subjects relating to the question I posed. They provided context about what advertising meant in a political context, and gave a detailed description about its level of importance within a political campaign. Other articles provided a description of the ways in which an advertisement is successful. Particularly regarding the year 2024, and how large of a role it’s going to play in the new political climate. That was extremely helpful to me in my research, as I wanted to be able to understand the level of which it would impact a politician’s success rate. There were also a number of sources that touched on the psychological aspects of advertising as well, which I placed a lot of emphasis on throughout my research project. The American Psychology Association touched on the subconscious mind, and the way in which a successful advertisement in media resonates within it.
This project not only assisted me in learning more about political advertisements and their importance, but it allowed me to indulge in my own personal journey of learning. I became extremely interested in the aforementioned subject and began to take on the research with pride. I was able to relate certain sources to others, and begin to put together puzzle pieces of a larger result. My inquiry question became extremely different than I believed it was going to be after spending time looking at several different ways of explaining it.
Throughout the course, I was exposed to a number of different subjects relating to media and democracy. Within those subjects, I was able to relate the sources and knowledge I gained from my research. This helped me in building my personal opinion, and forming some general ideas about the topic. As I had much less understanding of what the importance of media advertising in a political setting was.
I completed the project by collecting a series of sources, and annotating them in order to recall the information I wanted to review and compare for the video and the venn diagram. When creating the video portion, I chose to showcase my venn diagram, and discuss each section as well as touch on the different topics I learned about during my research process. This was helpful in tying the information together, and coming to a conclusion on my own.
In summary, I believe that advertising plays a crucial role in political campaigns, and is so much more important than people may even realize. It is subconsciously registered with the psyche of the consumer, and truly shifts the voters’ beliefs and opinions very much. It is important for these professionals to continue to make an effort with their controlled media, specifically their social media accounts. As the presence of new voters is very important to track, and a lot of Gen Z individuals get their news from social media, and place a lot of emphasis on their social media presence.