Page 53 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

candidates, lacking ‘the social context and duration of a real
campaign’ (Ibid., p.45), but claim that they were able to repeat the
experiment with similar results, thus strengthening their validity.
Research conducted in Germany by Kepplinger and Dombach
indicated that certain camera angles, such as filming at eye level,
produced a more favourable audience response to a politician than
others. They concluded that ‘camera angles influence perception,
particularly among a politician’s supporters’ (1987, p.71).
Some research has been concerned with the specific effects of
different media. Scott Keeter, for example, has found that of all
voters, those who watched television were the most likely to be
influenced by the candidate’s ‘image’. He accepted, however, that
this may not be ‘a reaction to the particular stimuli of televised
politics—although such a direct effect is plausible—as a more
general increase in the importance of candidate factors resulting
from various political changes in which television has played a role’
(1987, p.336).

THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING

We noted above the importance of distinguishing between types of
political communication, such as election broadcasts and TV news
interviews. If the candidate’s image and personality (as perceived
by the audience) is an important factor in shaping voting behaviour
so too, arguably, is the party’s political advertising. As we shall see
in Chapter 6, advertising is a major component of modern political
communication, consuming huge financial and creative resources
during and between elections. The fact of parties’ expenditure on
advertising might be thought to point to evidence that it works in
shaping behaviour. Such evidence is, however, conspicuously
lacking.
Research cited by Diamond and Bates supports the ‘uses and
gratifications’ thesis that the effects of political advertising (in which
category we include British party political broadcasts) are heavily
conditioned by the existing political attitudes of the audience. They
note that ‘some supporters of a particular candidate tend to project
their views on to the candidate’s advertising—they will hear what
they want to hear, almost regardless of what the favoured candidate
says. A number of studies have concluded that few people actually
change votes due to political advertising’ (1984, p.351). Advertising,
these authors suggest, may reinforce existing political attitudes and

36