Greek political advertising in retrospect: a longitudinal approach

Abstract

Drawing on the theory of affective intelligence, the present study considers the prolonged recession in Greece as a major event that increased the levels of people’s anxiety and propelled changes in political communication. The purpose of the study was to analyze the tone and the emotional appeals of 584 political advertisements aired over a decade of economic, social and political turmoil. A comparison of the pre-recession (2004–2009) to the recession period (2010–2015) highlighted that comparative advertising among major political parties increased in times of recession. Variations in the emotional appeals were also identified with major parties focusing on negative emotions, whereas minor parties relied mostly on joyful appeals and the use of humor. The findings indicated that during the recession, campaign strategies seem to aim at the manipulation of people’s emotions, alternating between positive and negative tone of advertisement and between the emotional appeals of joy, humor, anger and fear.