The use of emotions in 2019 European Elections campaign materials
PDF

Keywords

Emotions
Electoral Campaigns
Campaigns Materials
Elections
European Union

How to Cite

García Hípola, G., Antón Merino, J., & Pérez Castaños, S. (2021). The use of emotions in 2019 European Elections campaign materials. Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej, (15), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.14746/rie.2021.15.4

Abstract

This research analyses three fundamental questions to determine how, when and by whom emotions are used in campaign materials (political propaganda). Focusing on the 2019 European elections we carry out a three-phase analysis. Firstly, we check the use of rational content against content that appeals to voters’ emotions. Secondly, we observe which of these emo tions are channelled towards the use of negative strategies and, therefore, identifying who is the object of this attack. And lastly, we determine which party families make the most use of humorous content since this resource is believed to be part of an appeal to voter’s feelings and, therefore, it is essential to know if there are differences between political groups. Considering this analytical strategy, the structure of the work begins with the contextualisation of the 2019 European elections to focus, later, on highlighting the importance of electoral campaigns as a given time when communicative activity intensifies. Once the importance of electoral campaigns has been defined the article analyses how campaign materials, in a general context of political propaganda, are one of the most powerful tools. In this sense, the analytical strategy of political parties’ campaign materials can be said to focus on the use of emotions. Data from the European Elections Monitoring Center (EEMC) has been used not only for theoretical contextualization, but throughout the whole paper.

https://doi.org/10.14746/rie.2021.15.4
PDF

References

Arias M. (2016), La democracia sentimental. Política y emociones en el siglo XXI, Pá gina indó mita, Barcelona.

Becker A. (2012), Comedy Types and Political Campaigns: The Differential Influence of Other-Directed Hostile Humor and Self-Ridicule on Candidate Evaluations, “Mass Communication and Society”, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 791–812.

Boulianne S., Koc-Michalska K., Bimber B. (2020), Right-wing populism, social media and echo chambers in Western democracies, “New Media & Society”, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 683–699.

Cassese E. C., Holman M. R. (2018), Party and Gender Stereotypes in Campaign Attacks, “Political Behaviour”, no. 40, pp. 785–807.

Castells M. (2011), The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture (Vol. 1), John Wiley & Sons, London.

Deseriis M. (2020), Two variants of the Digital Party. The Platform Party and The Networked Party, “Partecipazione e Conflitto”, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 896–917.

Duncombe C. (2019), The Politics of Twitter: Emotions and the Power of Social Media, “International Political Sociology”, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 409–429.

Forscher P. S., Nour S. K. (2020), A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right, “Perspectives on Psychological Science”, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 90–116.

Galais C., Cardenal A. (2017), When David and Goliath campaign online: The effects of digital media use during electoral campaigns on vote for small parties, “Journal of Information Technology & Politics”, vol. 14, pp. 372–386.

Ganesh B. (2020), Weaponizing white thymos: flows of rage in the online audiences of the alt-right, “Cultural Studies”, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 892–924.

García Hípola G. (2014), Estrategias de comunicación política en contextos concurrenciales: las campañas electorales de 2008 y 2012 en Andalucía, Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada.

García Hípola G., Pérez Castaños S. (2021), Las emociones como estrategia de comunicación en las elecciones europeas de 2019: VOX, “Más Poder Local”, vol. 43, pp. 20–27.

Garzia D., Ferreira da Silva F. (2021), Negative personalization and voting behavior in 14 parliamentary democracies, 1961–2018, “Electoral Studies”, vol. 71, 102300.

Gerbaudo P. (2019), The Platform Party: The Transformation of Political Organisation in the Era of Big Data, in: Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data, eds. D. Chandler, C. Fuchs, University of Westminster Press, Westminster.

Hawley G. (2019), The Alt-Right. What everyone needs to know, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Herrero J. C. (2019), Manual de marketing político, Almuzara, Córdoba.

Kadir S., Lokman A., Tsuchiya T., Shuhidan S. M. (2020), Analysing Implicit Emotion and Unity in Propaganda Videos Posted in Social Network, “Journal of Physics: Conference Series”, vol. 1529, pp. 1–12.

Kaid L. L., Holtz-Bacha C. (2006), Television Advertising and Democratic Systems Around the World: A Comparison of Videostyle Content and Effects, in: eds. L. L. Kaid, C. Holtz-Bacha, Political Advertising in Western Democracies, Thousand Oaks, London.

Kishishita D. (2018), Emergence of populism under ambiguity, “International Tax and Public Finance”, vol. 25, pp. 1559–1562.

Klein O. (2019), LOLitics. The content and impact of Dutch populist Internet memes, Available in SSRN, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3371224.

Laakso M., Taagepera R. (1979), Effective Number of Parties. A Measure with Application to West Europe, “Comparative Political Studies”, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 3–27.

Lamerichs N., Nguyen D., Puerta Melguizo M. C., Radojevic R. (2018), Elite Male Bodies: The Circulation of Alt-Right Memes and The Framing of Politicians on Social Media, “Participations. Journal of Audiences & Reception Studies”, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 180–206.

Larsson A. O. (2020b), Facebook as a ‘Trusted Space of Everyday Communication’: Parties, Citizens and Direct Representation, “Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies”, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 127–146.

Larsson A. O. (2020a), Right-wingers on the rise online: Insights from the 2018 Swedish elections, “New Media and Society”, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 2108–2127.

Laubestein S., Urban A. (2019), Case studies: which types of campaign against hate and extremism on the internet work, which do not, and why?, in: Hate Speech and Radicalisation Online: The OCCI Research Report, eds. J. Baldauf, J. Ebner, J. Guhl, ISD, London.

Lazarsfeld H. P., Berelson B., Gaudet H. (1944), The People´s Choice, Columbia University Press, New York.

Lilleker D. G., Jackson N. A. (2010), Toward a More Participatory Style of Election Campaigning: The Impact of Web 2.0 on the UK 2010 General Election, “Policy & Internet”, vol. 3, pp. 69–98.

Lioy A., Del Valle M., Gottlieb J. (2019), Platform politics: Party organisation in the digital age, “Information Polity”, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 41–58.

Lusoli W., Ward S., Gibson R. (2002), Political organisations and online mobilisation: Different media – same outcomes?, “New Review of Information Networking”, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 89–107.

Marcus G. E., MacKuen M. B. (2004), Anxiety, Enthusiasm, and the Vote: The Emotional Underpinnings of Learning and Involvement During Presidential Campaigns, in: Political Psychology: Key Readings, eds. J. T. Jost, J. Sidanius, Psychology Press, New York.

Martínez F. (2008), “Por qué importan las campañas electorales?”, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Madrid.

McNair B. (2003), An Introduction to Political Communication, Routledge, London.

Montero J. R., Gunther R. (2003), The Literature on Political Parties: a Critical Reassessment, “ICPS Working Papers”, vol. 219.

Mudde C. (2004), The Populist Zeitgeist, “Government and Opposition” vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 541–563.

Muñoz-Alonso A., Rospir J. I. (1999), Democracia mediática y campañas electorales, Ariel, Barcelona.

Nieland J. (2008), Politainment, in: The international encyclopedia of communication, ed. W. Donsbach, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Novelli E., Johansson B. (2019), 2019 European Elections Campaign: Images, Topics and Media in the 28 Member States, European Union, Brussels.

Pasquino G. (2001), The New Campaign Politics in Southern Europe, in: Parties, Politics and Democracy in the New Southern Europe, eds. N. Diamandouros, R. Gunther, John Hopkins University, London.

Pérez Castaños S., García Rabadán J. (2019), El pinchazo de los partidos antieuropeos, “The conversation”, https://theconversation.com/el-pinchazo-de-los-partidos-antieuropeos-118715, 01.07.2019.

Plaza-Colodro C., Gómez-Reino M., Marcos-Marné H. (2018), Does host ideology shape populist parties’ attitudes towards the EU? The links of populism and Euroscepticism in Southern Europe, “Revista Internacional de Sociología”, no. 76, vol. 4, e112.

Prodobnik B., Skreblin Kirbis I., Koprcina M., Stanley H. E. (2019), Emergence of the unified right- and left-wing populism – When radical societal changes become more important than ideology, “Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications”, vol. 517, pp. 459–474.

Reinemann C., Wilke J. (2007), It’s the Debates, Stupid! How the Introduction of Televised Debates Changed the Portrayal of Chancellor Candidates in the German Press, 1949–2005, “Press/Politics”, no. 12, pp. 92–111.

Ruiz-Rufino R. (2012), Los sistemas electorales de la Unión Europea y sus consecuencias políticas, in: M. Torcal, J. Font, Elecciones europeas 2009, CIS, Madrid.

Savre S., King C. (2010), Entertainment and society: influences, impacts and innovations, Routledge, New York.

Schultz D. (2012), Politainment, the ten rules of contemporary politics: a citizens’ guide to understanding campaigns and elections, Theoklesia, WI.

Schuster C. (2020), Patrons against clients: Electoral uncertainty and bureaucratic tenure in politicized states, “Regulation and Governance”, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 26–43.

Steffan D., Venema N. (2019), Personalised, de-ideologised and negative? A longitudinal analysis of campaign posters for German Bundestag elections, 1949–2017, “European Journal of Communication”, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 267–285.

Steffan D., Venema N. (2020), New medium, old strategies? Comparing online and traditional campaign posters for German Bundestag elections, 2013–2017, “European Journal of Communication”, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 370–380.

Tsatsanis E., Terperoglou E., Seriatos A. (2020), Two-partyism Reloaded: Polarisation, Negative Partisanship, and the Return of the Left-right Divide in the Greek Elections of 2019, “South European Society and Politics”, DOI: 10.1080/13608746.2020.1855798.

Tsichla E. et al. (2019), Greek political advertising in retrospect: a longitudinal approach, “Communication Research Reports”, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 404–414.

Van Dijck J. (2013), The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Oxford University Press, New York.

Vasilopoulou S., Wagner M. (2017), Fear, anger and enthusiasm about the European Union: Effects of emotional reactions on public preferences towards European integration, “European Union Politics”, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 382–405.

Verhulsdonk I. (2018), The use of humor and negative campaigning. An (un)happy marriage?, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam.

Voss K. (2009), Using humor in conjunction with negative consequences in advertising, “Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising”, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 25–39.

Wallsten K. (2011), Many Sources, One Message: Political Blog Links to Online Videos During the 2008 Campaign, “Journal of Political Marketing”, vol. 10, pp. 88–114.

Westen D. (2007), The political brain: The role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation, Public Affairs, New York.

Winter A. (2019), Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’, and from the Margins to the Mainstream, in: Online Othering: Exploring violence and discrimination on the web, eds. K. Lumdsen, E. Harmer, Palgrave, London.

Wirz D., Wettstein M., Schulz A., Müller P., Schemer C., Ernst N., Esser F., Werner W. (2018), The Effects of Right-Wing Populist Communication on Emotions and Cognitions toward Immigrants, “International Journal of Press/Politics”, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 496–516.

Yarchi M., Baden C., Kigler-Vilenchik N. (2020), Political Polarization on the Digital Sphere: A Cross-platform, Over-time Analysis of Interactional, Positional, and Affective Polarization on Social Media, “Political Communication”, vol. 38, no. 1–2, pp. 1–42.