Political advertising is as important as ever, ad spending records are broken each election cycle, and the volume of ads aired continues to increase. Political Advertising in the United States is a comprehensive survey of the political advertising landscape and its influence on voters. The authors, co-directors of the Wesleyan Media Project, draw from the latest data to analyze how campaign finance laws have affected the sponsorship and content of political advertising, how 'big data' has allowed for more sophisticated targeting, and how the Internet and social media has changed the distribution of ads. With detailed analysis of presidential and congressional campaign ads and discussion questions in each chapter, this accessibly written book is a must-read for students, scholars and practitioners who want to understand the ins and outs of political advertising.

In recent years political campaigns in Western democracies have relied increasingly upon television advertising to promote candidates and//or political parties. Campaigns in North America were the first to channel political messages in this way and many European campaigns have been based on the United States models. This comparative analysis highlights the differences and the similarities of campaigns in Western democracies. The various campaign styles, their methods and approaches reflect the unique political and cultural traditions of each country. Written by renowned contributors, the chapters are based on the most recent campaigns in the countries represented.

The SAGE Handbook of Political Advertising provides a comprehensive view of the role political advertising plays in democracies around the world. Editors Lynda Lee Kaid and Christina Holtz-Bacha, along with an international group of contributors, examine the differences as well as the similarities of political advertising in established and evolving democratic governments. Key Features: Offers an international perspective: This Handbook examines the political television advertising process that has evolved in democracies around the world, including countries in Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, Latin America, and North America. In addition, a comparative overview addresses the effects of political advertising on the voters and the systems of which it is a part. Provides comprehensive coverage: For each country presented, an analysis is given of its political advertising history, its cultural implications, the political and regulatory systems related to political advertising, the effects of media system structures, and the effects of new technologies. Includes examples from recent elections: The role specific candidate- or party-controlled television plays in a specific region′s electoral process is examined. Original research on recent elections confirms the expanding significance of this form of political communication. This is an excellent resource for media professionals and practicing journalists, as well as a welcome addition to any academic library. It can also be used as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on Political Advertising in the fields of Political Science, Communication, Broadcasting, Journalism, and International Relations.

A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

Examines the role of the media in elections, discussing how it can be used to explore issues, expose controversy, and explain candidates' platforms.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram create new ways to market political campaigns and new channels for candidates and voters to interact. This volume investigates the role and impact of social media in the 2016 U.S. election, focusing specifically on the presidential nominating contest. Through case studies, survey research and content analysis, the researchers employ both human and machine coding to analyse social media text and video content. Together, these illustrate the wide variety of methodological approaches and statistical techniques that can be used to probe the rich, vast stores of social media data now available. Individual chapters examine what different candidates posted about and which posts generated more of a response. The analyses shed light on what social media can reveal about campaign messaging strategies and explore the linkages between social media content and their audiences’ perceptions, opinions and political participation. The findings highlight similarities and differences among candidates and consider how continuity and change are manifest in the 2016 election. Finally, taking a look forward, the contributors consider the implications of their work for political marketing research and practice. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Marketing.

From a certain perspective, the biggest political story of 2016 was how the candidate who bought three-quarters of the political ads lost to the one whose every provocative Tweet set the agenda for the day’s news coverage. With the arrival of bot farms, microtargeted Facebook ads, and Cambridge Analytica, isn’t the age of political ads on local TV coming to a close? You might think. But you’d be wrong to the tune of $4.4 billion just in 2016. In U.S. elections, there’s a lot more at stake than the presidency. TV spending has gone up dramatically since 2006, for both presidential and down-ballot races for congressional seats, governorships, and state legislatures—and the 2020 campaign shows no signs of bucking this trend. When candidates don’t enjoy the name recognition and celebrity of the presidential contenders, it’s very much business as usual. They rely on the local TV newscasts, watched by 30 million people every day—not Tweets—to convey their messages to an audience more fragmented than ever. At the same time, the nationalization of news and consolidation of local stations under juggernauts like Nexstar Media and Sinclair Broadcasting mean a decreasing share of time devoted to down-ballot politics—almost 90 percent of 2016’s local political stories focused on the presidential race. Without coverage of local issues and races, ad buys are the only chance most candidates have to get their messages in front of a broadcast audience. On local TV news, political ads create the reality of local races—a reality that is not meant to inform voters but to persuade them. Voters are left to their own devices to fill in the space between what the ads say—the bought reality—and what political stories used to cover.