Conventional wisdom is both confirmed and disputed in this book about emotional appeals in political advertising. With innova- tive, real-world experiments and ...
Book reviews
Campaigning for hearts and minds: How emotional appeals in political ads work Ted Brader University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2006 $60 (cloth), $24 (paper), pp. 280
Conventional wisdom is both confirmed and disputed in this book about emotional appeals in political advertising. With innovative, real-world experiments and an expansive content analysis built on solid theoretical foundations, Ted Brader offers a fresh look at how emotional appeals both stir and deter viewers’ responses. By focusing on affect— long slighted in political communication research and communication and political science research in general—Brader’s Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work is an important read for political communication scholars, political practitioners, and citizens. Political advertisements are complex: a potpourri of music, images, lighting, colors. But by manipulating these ingredients, Brader demonstrates, politicians change how viewers think about and engage in politics. Two emotional appeals in particular play prominent roles in Brader’s book: fear and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm appeals polarize, bolstering supporters while turning opponents away even further. Fear shakes viewers, triggering a state of dissonance that leads to reappraisal and receptiveness toward advertisement content. These results suggest much more nuanced effects of emotions in political advertising and also explain why challengers are drawn to fear appeals, whereas frontrunners are more prone to use enthusiasm appeals. The portions of the book that challenge conventional wisdom are the most compelling. Among these findings, we learn that emotions are not transferred to the source or target of political advertisements; on the contrary, emotions shore up loyalties or shake viewers into reassessment. There is no evidence for a backlash against sponsors of fear appeals, and fear
Book reviews
advertisements do not make voters more cynical. Brader also shows that political sophisticates are not impervious to emotional appeals but rather are more susceptible, extending Zaller’s insight into a new area of political perception. Other findings may not come as much of a surprise but are important nonetheless: Emotional appeals are common, they work, and music and images are effective in appealing to emotions. Brader’s reliance on experimental design—two studies in the midst of an actual, ongoing gubernatorial election campaign each employing a nonstudent sample—sets his research apart from the more common political advertising analyses that use only survey data or correlations. The data from Brader’s experiments offer the most provocative findings of the book, elucidating the effects of fear and enthusiasm. Here, we learn that enthusiasm appeals increase interest in campaigns, whereas fear appeals strengthen political behaviors, such as donating time to campaigns. The content analysis of 1,4001 advertisements offers a nuanced view of the political advertising landscape. Although not able to offer the precision or prediction afforded by the experimental studies, the content analysis breaks new ground in its scope. Brader calls it the ‘‘first large-scale, systematic study of emotion in contemporary ad campaigns’’ (p. 148). Here, Brader casts a wider net than in his experiments, assessing appeals to seven emotions: Fear, enthusiasm, anger, pride, sadness, amusement, and compassion. Among the findings from the content analysis, we learn that emotional appeals do not come at the exclusion of logical appeals; instead, they are often used in conjunction with logical arguments. Although the author provides rationales for the design of the studies, a few procedural choices may give readers pause. Instead of assessing emotions at the time of viewing the ads during the experiments, recalled emotional cues are elicited. Political knowledge is assessed with a three-question test, and one correct response qualifies participants as ‘‘political
Journal of Communication 56 (2006) 626–637 ª 2006 International Communication Association
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Book reviews
experts or more sophisticated’’ (p. 99). Further, in an otherwise strong theoretical overview, there is a conspicuous absence of the Elaboration Likelihood Model, which may have helped clarify some of the findings. Further, the prevailing focus on fear and enthusiasm does not come without costs. Although manipulation checks postexperiment suggest that the advertisements resulted in the intended emotions of fear and enthusiasm, we have no evidence that other emotions were also not elicited. Indeed, Brader’s content analysis reveals that most political advertisements use more than one emotional appeal (though one emotion is almost always prominent). One wonders if another emotion, such as anger, may have moderated some viewers’ responses or interacted with the prominent appeals of fear or enthusiasm. The experiments offered precision, but they did not capture the entire complexity of emotional content in political advertising, a limitation that Brader acknowledges. This book, like George Marcus’ work in affective intelligence, moves us a giant step forward in understanding the significant effects of affect. As Brader observes, ‘‘It is an exciting time in the study of political advertising’’ (p. 191). Brader’s book fans this excitement and is thought provoking. I suppose one could say that it appeals to readers’ hearts and minds. Josh Compton Southwest Baptist University
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Journal of Communication 56 (2006) 626–637 ª 2006 International Communication Association
