Comparative Campaign Advertisement Project
POSC 369
Assignment Objectives
The purpose of this assignment is for students to view advertisement strategies
used by political candidates at election time by evaluating the various themes
and images employed by the candidates, or by others working on the candidates’
behalf (such as political parties or independent political groups).
Content Requirements
My expectation is that students will focus on the 2012 presidential election.
Requests to examine historical elections will be considered on a case-by-case
basis. You should be familiar with the issues and events that were salient during
the election you examine, thus examining elections that are not contemporary is
something that I tend to discourage.
You must compare the two major party candidates; it is not acceptable to focus
on a single candidate. Inclusion of third party candidates is optional (if you can
locate a third party ad). For each candidate, a minimum of four advertisements
in support of the candidate must be examined.
Advertisements may be sponsored by the candidate’s campaign organization, a
political party, or an interest-group.
For each advertisement viewed, the following themes should be addressed:
the tone of the ad (is the ad a positive statement about what the candidate
stands for, or is the ad an attack on the opponent?). Be sure to discuss the
criteria you used to determine whether an ad was considered to be positive or
negative (or neutral) for the purposes of your paper.
•
if the ad is positive, what types of images, sounds, associations, or
slogans are used to promote this tone?
•
if the ad is negative, what types of images, sounds, associations, and
slogans are used to create this tone?
what elements of the candidate’s issue agenda are present in the ad?
•
does the candidate enumerate elements of a specific policy proposal?
If so, what is the policy (or policies) that the candidate seeks to
promote?
•
does the candidate emphasize any non-policy messages such as
leadership, experience, compassion, etc.?
•
on balance, on what basis is the voter being asked to select the
candidate? Is the appeal primarily a policy appeal, or a non-policy
appeal?
the use of symbols in the ad
•
examine images used in the ad, and what those images are intended to
symbolize to the viewer (i.e., the setting, objects, persons)
•
if there is a narrator, is it a male or a female?
characterize the narrator’s voice?
•
do other persons appear in the ad? If so, what do they represent?
How would you
other intangibles
•
is there music, and if so, what effect is created by this?
•
is there anything interesting about the movement of the camera that
may evoke a particular type of emotion in the viewer?
•
describe anything else that you feel contributes to the appeal that the
candidate is making in the ad that may not be captured by the other
categories
the candidate’s appearance
•
does the candidate appear in the ad? If so, do we see the whole
candidate, is the focus on the candidate’s face, or is there some other
presentation? What image does this convey to the voter? Does the
candidate appear friendly? Sympathetic? Professional?
•
how is the candidate attired? Is the clothing casual or formal? What
type of image is this designed to convey?
evaluate the apparent target of the ad
•
sometimes, the target audience of the ad may be revealed by the
setting of the ad, or the persons portrayed in the ad. So, an ad set in a
factory and discussing blue collar jobs may be designed to appeal
primarily to working class voters, although a jobs theme may have a
secondary appeal to a larger audience (in that claims about economic
improvement presumably appeal to all)
•
alternatively, an ad about equal pay may be directed primarily toward
women
•
try to look beyond just the people in the ad and the setting. Who is
most likely to be affected by the policy/ issue that the ad is discussing?
Or, what types of voters are most concerned about this topic? The
target may not be a particular socio-demographic group. Instead, the
target may be liberal voters or social conservatives. Or, candidates
could be targeting their own base (that is, members of their own party)
in an attempt to mobilize their supporters.
You will need to examine the ads you’ve viewed in the context of the themes
presented above. For each candidate, provide an overall summary of the
candidate’s strategy and the image that the candidate is trying to project based
on the ads you’ve viewed.
You will also need to compare the candidates you’ve examined to each other.
How do their strategies differ (i.e., issues, target audiences)? What are the
similarities and differences in the images they project to the voter?
Because the 2012 election features a great deal of outside spending (ads created
by groups other than the candidate), it is also important to note who sponsored
each ad you examine. Try to determine whether ads sponsored by candidates
differ in some systematic way from ads sponsored by outside groups.
I’m asking you to view these ads as a campaign strategist might. So, for each
candidate, try to view each ad, and each word, and each image, and each sound,
and imagine the purpose it serves in the ad. Why was it placed there? What did
the candidate or interest group that created the ad intend for the effect to be? As
a viewer, how were these images, sounds, and messages received? What can we
learn about the candidates and their parties from viewing these ads? What do
these ads reveal about how candidates, parties, and interest groups view voters?
Technical Requirements
Your paper should be at least eight double-spaced pages in length, with no more
than one inch margins and a 12 point text font (no sans serif, or headline, fonts).
Identify each ad by title (which should be available on the website where it was
obtained, and should also be how the ad is referred to in the press), and by
sponsor (this is who funded the ad). Be sure to tell me where each ad was
obtained. You may do this in a statement at the beginning, or in a list at the end
of the paper.
While outside research is not required, it is strongly encouraged. So, finding out
when an ad aired, where it aired, and potential controversies surrounding the ad
can be useful. Comparing ads that were meant to be viewed together (i.e., an
attack and a response to the attack) provides a good opportunity for
comparisons. You may choose ads on similar themes, or you may opt for
variety. How you choose to organize your comparisons is up to you. A full
bibliography of all non-advertisement resources that you use is required. The
bibliography and all attributions in the text should follow APSA style. A style
sheet and writing guidelines can be found in a link at the bottom of the
instructor’s website (http://web.posc.jmu.edu).
All analysis in this project should be your own work. Plagiarism of words or
ideas from others will result in a failing grade in this course (see syllabus for
plagiarism policy). I will have zero sympathy for you on this one, no matter
what your sad story is. Re-arranging words is still plagiarism. Just don’t.
Advertisement Resources
Political Communication Lab, Stanford University
2012 Presidential General Election Ads: Obama vs. Romney
http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2012/
Museum of the Moving Image
Living Room Candidate
blog for 2012 ads
http://livingroomcandidate.tumblr.com/
Washington Post
Mad Money: Tracking TV Campaign Ads in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/track-presidentialcampaign-ads-2012/
*includes links to fact checks, spending, and weekly ad buys by region and state
**also breaks down total spending by theme, source, and message (is the ad
negative?)
Political Advertising Resource Center
University of Maryland
http://parc.umd.edu/
*they don’t have anything ultra-recent, but they have some examples of analyses
of primary ads that you may want to glance at for some insight. Do not rip them
off for this assignment (I should not have to say this, but I will).
Annenberg Political Fact Check
Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania
http://factcheck.org/archive.html