Analyzing political advertising in the context of new media literacy

Abstract

Introduction Advertisements that are used as key tools and instruments for influencing the masses can also be commercially profitable, and they may contain striking images and contents aiming to stimulate the masses in certain periods. One particular type of them is the political advertisements published on social media during election campaigns. Symbols, slogans, sounds, colors, texts and other visual elements contribute to the effectiveness of advertising. Political campaign ads aim to influence voters and persuade them for casting their vote to a particular candidate or a political party. Such subtle or explicit messages of the ads can increase the influence of propaganda and shape election campaigns. Increasing visibility of the political parties, leaders or candidates, promoting the party/candidate in public, accessing to all voters who cannot be reached individually, and acknowledging and encouraging the voters to cast their vote in the election are the main objectives of political advertisements (Stach, 2015, p. 4; Çiftlikçi, 1996, as cited in Erdinç, 2010, pp. 55-56). In order to achieve these goals and to create intended effect on the voter, the advertisement contains highly attractive elements. Besides the content of an ad, the identity of the advertiser and various characteristics of the ad’s recipients are also important (age, gender, etc.). Today, political campaign advertising is believed to have increasingly more potential to reach the voters and convince them, thanks to continuous increase in popularity of the social media. The trend in social media advertising has been particularly important…. © Peter Lang GmbH.