Effects of Gender Schematic Processing on the Reception of Political Commercials for Men and Women Candidates

Abstract

The article tests hypotheses from gender schema theory (Bem, 1981) in the context of political television commercials for men and women gubernatorial candidates. Subjects viewed authentic commercials for three pairs of candidates, each pair comprising a man and a woman candidate competing for office. The experimental design varied the tone of the commercials (positive, negative, neutral) in addition to candidate gender. Findings included enhanced recall of ad information from content domains of family and appearance in the case of women as opposed to men candidates, and enhanced recall from the domain of campaign activities in the case of men as opposed to women candidates. Men's attack ads on women elicited greater emotional reaction than women's attacks on men.

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

“…Some studies indicate that negative messages drive down citizens' evaluations of the candidates targeted by negative messages (Merritt 1984;Kaid and Boydston 1987;Basil et al 1991;Kaid 1997;Pinkleton 1998). Others show that the candidates who sponsor negative messages are viewed less favorably (Merritt 1984;Hill 1989;Martinez and Delegal 1990;Basil et al 1991;Kaid et al 1992;Lemert et al 1991;Hitchon and Chang 1995;Haddock and Zanna 1997;Hitchon et al 1997;Pinkleton 1998). Another set of findings suggest that citizens may feel sympathetic towards the targets of attacks and thus view them more favorably (Hill 1989;Martinez and Delegal 1990;Lemert et al 1991;Haddock and Zanna 1997).…”

“…This is because negative campaigning tends to be unpopular (see for example Hitchon and Chang 1995), memorable (Brians and Wattenberg 1996) in ways that encourages citizens to think about politics in terms of avoiding costs rather than seeking benefits Lau (1982Lau ( , 1985, and more informative (Freedman et al 2004) than positive campaigning. These findings lead to several expectation, which we simplify into two competing schools of thought, both of which have some support in the extant literature.…”

Does Political Advertising Persuade?

“…Much of this research has explored the impact of the tone of advertising (whether it is positive, negative or mixed) on voter turnout (Ansolabehere & Iyengar, 1995;Ansolabehere, Iyengar, & Simon 1999;Djupe & Peterson, 2002;, 2002aKahn & Kenney, 1999;Lau & Pomper, 2004;Martin, 2004;Peterson & Djupe, 2005;Wattenberg & Brians, 1999); advertising's impact on candidate impressions (Garramone, Atkin, Pinkleton, & Cole, 1990;Hitchon & Chang, 1995;Kaid & Boydston, 1987); and the relationship between ad exposure and democratic attitudes such as political interest and efficacy (Ansolabehere & Iyengar, 1995;Freedman, Franz, & Goldstein 2004;Martin, 2004;Schenck-Hamlin & Proctor, 2000).…”

Incivility in political advertisements: a look at the 2012 US presidential election

“…Yet other researchers, also using diverse methodologies, found that negative advertisements are in fact ineffective at lowering evaluations of targeted candidates (Basil, Schooler, and Reeves 1991;Chang 2001;Haddock and Zanna 1997;Hill 1989;Martinez and Delegal 1990). Likewise, studies have also suggested that when campaigns use negative advertising they risk 'backlash' towards the sponsoring candidate (Fridkin and Kenney 2004;Haddock and Zanna 1997;Hitchon and Chang 1995;Houston and Doan 1999;Kahn and Greer 1994;Kaid 1997;Lee 2014;Pinkleton 1997).…”