Lab 031: Persuadables
Have you been inundated with political ads? We sure have! We unpacked political advertising in this episode.
Political advertising is not new. It’s moved from word of mouth to radio to billboards to TV and now to social media. It’s estimated that ~$7 billion will be spent on political ads this year, with the bulk of the money going towards TV ads.
Because TV is king, let’ stake a look at a few examples of the various emotions political ads invoke to influence political behavior.
Fear is a commonly exploited emotion which we saw with the Lyndon B Johnson daisy ad
It’s rare to use laughter or humor in a political ad like the 1968 ad mocking Spiro Agnew
You can review many more political ads and sort them by year or issue on The Living Room Candidate.
Political Advertising Campaigns
We talked about the various stages of political advertising campaigns
Awareness (See Jimmy Carter’s Biographical Ad)
Acquisition
Persuasion
Mobilization
This is often one of the hardest parts for campaigns. How do campaigns & advertisers get people to go beyond liking posts on social media and motivate them to action - some type of political behavior?
Guest Experts
Dr. Chryl Laird - We learned so many interesting things about political behavior from Dr. Laird. She is an Assistant Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College. Check out her book, Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior, to learn more about the political behavior of Black voters.
Jenna Golden helped understand the social media landscape. She owns Golden Strategies, providing expertise on the Washington, DC market.