An Exploration of the Effects of Negative Political Advertising on Political Decision Making

Pinkleton, Bruce E.; Um, Nam-Hyun; Austin, Erica Weintraub

doi:10.1080/00913367.2002.10673657

Cited by 109 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…What evidence there is suggests a need for caution. Studies of political advertising have found that using negative information tends to reflect badly on the political party that sponsors the ad (Japerson & Fan, 2002;Meirick, 2002;Pinkleton, Um, & Austin, 2002). Also, the use of threats that the target group finds exaggerated or that do not reflect the target group's personal beliefs and experiences can result in the target group discrediting the communicator (Tripp & Davenport, 1988/89).…”

Section: The Effect Of Fear Campaigns On the "Brand"mentioning

confidence: 96%

Fear appeals in social marketing: Strategic and ethical reasons for concern

Hastings

Stead

Webb

2004

Psychology and Marketing

457

404

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This article criticizes the predominant use of fear appeals in social marketing. Laboratory studies, which have been the basis for most of the research on fear appeals and which generally suggest that high fear works, have limitations that include forced exposure, short-term measurement, and an overdependence on student samples. Although, unfortunately, field research evaluations of fear appeals are few, they usually reveal that fear has both weaker effects and unintended deleterious effects in real-world social marketing campaigns. Ethical concerns about fear appeals include maladaptive responses such as chronic heightened anxiety among those most at risk and, paradoxically, complacency among those not directly targeted, and increased social inequity between those who respond to fear campaigns, who tend to be better off, and those who do not, who tend to be the less educated and poorer members of society. Alternatives to fear appeals are the use of positive reinforcement appeals aimed at the good behavior, the use of humor, and, for younger audiences, the use of postmodern irony

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Section: The Effect Of Fear Campaigns On the "Brand"mentioning

confidence: 96%

Fear appeals in social marketing: Strategic and ethical reasons for concern

Hastings

Stead

Webb

2004

Psychology and Marketing

457

404

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The effects of political advertising studied include: candidate favourability (Jasperson & Fan 2002); advertising utility, negativity, cynicism, efficacy and apathy (Pinkleton et al 2002); candidate evaluations and ad evaluations (Pinkleton 1997); source credibility on voter certainty (Lariscy & Tinkham 1999); voter intent (Faber et al 1993); attitude towards the sponsoring candidate and opponent (Hill 1989); perceived value of information sources and political advertising believability (O'Cass 2002); candidate evaluations and voter intentions, and political cynicism (Kaid 2002); and candidate image evaluations using 12 bipolar adjectives (Tedesco 2002). Independent variables used to explain the above effects include the type of message (Jasperson & Fan 2002), the level of negativity in the ad (Hill 1989;Pinkleton et al 2002), the order of exposure (Lariscy & Tinkham 1999), the types of involvement and media use (Faber et al 1993), voter satisfaction and emotion (O'Cass 2002), advertising medium (Kaid 2002), and gender and political affiliation (Tedesco 2002).…”

Section: Political Advertising Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…What makes advertising negative is the tone of the message. The content of negative advertising, sometimes called 'mudslinging' or 'attack advertising', impugns the character, record or position of the targeted candidate, creating doubt in voters' minds about the ability of the target to govern successfully (Pinkleton et al 2002). Thus, negative advertising is not a perfect proxy for inconsistency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

When does a candidate’s inconsistency matter to the voter?

Karande

Case

Mady

2008

International Journal of Advertising

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A review of the literature indicates that there is little research on how voters respond to candidates' inconsistency on issues. Our study addresses this gap. We investigate whether voter response in terms of trust, attitude towards the candidate and intention to vote for the candidate is negatively influenced by a candidate's inconsistency on an issue and by the voter's attribution of the candidate's motive to a genuine desire to benefit the voter or to a ruse to garner their vote. Further, it is investigated whether this negative impact is stronger when the issue is relevant to the voter; and whether the effect of inconsistency depends on the attribution and issue relevance. The hypotheses are tested by conducting an experiment with 242 subjects. Results indicate that there is a three-way interaction and the effects of inconsistency depend upon the attribution and relevance. The effects of inconsistency are found only in certain conditions based on relevance and attribution. Attribution, however, is found to have an impact on all three aspects of voter response regardless of relevance of the issue and voter attribution. Thus, many candidates who might be tempted to argue that they have been 'not inconsistent' might be better off explaining the reasons for their change in position. Limitations and suggestions for future research are provided.

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“…Nonetheless, research suggests that the use of such ads tends to create a backlash in public opinion regarding candidates endorsing such a tactic (e.g., Pinkleton, Um, & Austin, 2002). Such findings indicate that category norms may exert little influence on the persuasiveness of influence tactics that are overwhelmingly viewed as negative or positive by consumers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

How category advertising norms and consumer counter‐conformity influence comparative advertising effectiveness

Barone

Jewell

2012

J Consum Psychol

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Surprisingly little research examines whether and how category advertising norms influence the effectiveness of comparative advertising. To address this void, the present research investigates if the persuasiveness of a particular comparative advertisement depends on whether or not it is viewed as a typical tactic that conforms to category advertising norms. Results from experiments 1 and 2 indicate that a comparative advertisement used in violation of category norms results in a persuasion penalty that is evidenced by a reduction in the ad's impact on brand attitudes. This effect of category norms on persuasion is shown to be mediated by evaluations of the comparative advertisement's appropriateness in the product category. A final experiment confirms this persuasion penalty with respect to consumers holding conformity-based motives. However, this penalty is found to be reversed for individuals seeking counter-conformity in the marketplace, who respond more favorably to a comparative advertisement when it violates rather than conforms to category norms.

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An Exploration of the Effects of Negative Political Advertising on Political Decision Making

Cited by 109 publications

References 33 publications

Fear appeals in social marketing: Strategic and ethical reasons for concern

Fear appeals in social marketing: Strategic and ethical reasons for concern

When does a candidate’s inconsistency matter to the voter?

How category advertising norms and consumer counter‐conformity influence comparative advertising effectiveness

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