Across more than five decades of research on political advertising, no topic has been more dominant than the discussion of whether or not campaign commercials are dominated by image information or issue information. Rooted in the classic democratic voting model that insists rational voting decisions should be made on the basis of policy issues (Berelson, 1966), one of the perennial criticisms of advertising in politics is that it trivializes political discourse by concentrating more on candidate personalities and images than on issues. However, this has proven to
be an unfounded concern since research has shown that most political advertising, whatever the medium, concentrates more often on issues than on candidate image.
Newspaper and Print Political Advertising Content. Early political advertis- ing in newspapers, however, was not dominated by issues. Humke, Schmitt, and Grupp (1975) analyzed 849 political ads appearing in the Bloomington, Illinois, newspaper from 1932 to 1960 and found that the central focus of 78% of the ads was the candidate; issues played a much less significant role. This picture changed in later campaigns, however. In 1970 races below presidential level in 23 states, Bowers (1972) found that newspaper political ads emphasized issues much more than candidate personalities. Other researchers have drawn similar conclusions about newspaper advertising in lower level races (Elebash & Rosene, 1982;
Latimer, 1984). Nonetheless, some researchers have found that candidates for lower level races rely on a substantial amount of personal appeals in their spots. Typical of these findings are those by Latimer (1989a, 1989b), who found that Alabama state legislative candidates focused on image traits in their newspaper ads.
The emphasis on issues extends to other types of printed campaign materials.
For instance, in a a study of 137 races for U.S. Congress in 1978, Raymond (1987) found that campaign brochures were issue-oriented, especially for challengers who gave more attention to issues than did incumbents.
Other researchers have concentrated their interest in issue content in newspa- per advertising on the specific types of issues covered. Mullen (1963b) analyzed newspaper ads from Kennedy-Nixon 1960 race and found that Democrats used pic- tures more effectively and promoted their strengths in the domestic policy area. In a similar analysis of newspaper ads in 1960 U.S. Senate campaigns, Mullen (1963a) found differences in issues stressed according to party—Democrats stressed more appeals to the elderly, on education, and on health, whereas Republicans concen- trated more on their record in fiscal policy. Newspaper ads in the 1964 Johnson–
Goldwater campaign displayed few differences on issues, although Democrats focused more on agriculture, labor, business, conservation, and health while Re- publicans focused more on graft and corruption (Mullen, 1968).
Issues in Televised Political Advertising. The dominance of issues in televised political advertising has rarely been challenged by empirical data. Television polit- ical advertising concentrates more often on issues (usually between 60 and 80%) than on candidate images (Joslyn, 1980). Patterson and McClure’s (1976) classic study of the 1972 presidential campaign found not only that issue information overshadowed image content, but that the issue content of political spots out- weighed the issue content of television network news during the campaign. Other work confirmed this finding with regard to the 1972 presidential race (Hofstetter
& Zukin, 1979), and Kern (1989) reinforced these findings in her studies of spots in the 1980s. In analyses of the 1996 primaries, researchers have also discovered that candidate messages (advertising and speeches) were giving substantial atten- tion to issues and were definitely more issue substantive, by a margin of 3:1, than television news (Center for Media and Public Affairs, 1996; Lichter & Noyes, 1996).
Kaid and Johnston (2001) analyzed a comprehensive sample of presidential ads from 1952 through 1996 and concluded that 60% of all spots used in presidential general elections have focused primarily on issues. Geer (1998) analyzed a large sample of presidential ads from general and primary elections over time and found that there are identifiable differences in the issue agendas offered by candidates
of different parties; the study also found that image traits, particularly experience, are more often found in the ads of incumbents. Findings on the last four presiden- tial campaigns have also substantiated that issues are more frequently stressed in spots than are images (Kaid, 1991a, 1994, 1998, 2002b). In fact, the percentage of issue ads (78%) in the 2000 presidential campaign was one of the highest in history (Kaid, 2002b).
Such findings are also common below the presidential level (Elebash & Rosene, 1982; Joslyn, 1980). More recently, Vavreck (2001) analyzed the ads of 290 candi- dates in the 1998 elections and found that only 30% were predominately trait-based, whereas 52% were dominated by issues, and over 80% contained some mention of issues.
Although this research debunks the notion that political television spots are dominated by image information, it is important to note that the concentration on issues does not always mean that candidates are providing substantial argu- ments or explaining complex policy issues. Even Joslyn’s (1980) early analysis of spots indicated that the percentage of spots with specific policy issue information was much lower than the overall number of issue spots. In a later analysis of 500 spots from 1960 to 1984, Joslyn (1986) found that ads focusing on prospec- tive policy choices were the least frequently occurring type. Payne, Marlier, and Baukus (1989) reinforced this notion in their analysis of 1988 presidential primary spots when they concluded that issues are treated more in the form of vague policy preferences and that spots are replete with emotional and cultural images and sym- bols. Kaid and Johnston (2001; Johnston & Kaid, 2002) found a similar lack of policy issue statements in their comprehensive analysis of presidential ads. Darrell West (1993) analyzed sets of typical and prominent spots across a number of years and was equally critical of the lack of substantive, specific policy positioning by candi- dates, although he notes that spots have become more, not less, policy-oriented in recent presidential elections.
One of the most well-developed studies of issue and image content in political spots was conducted on the 1980 presidential primary spots by Leonard Shyles (1983, 1984a, 1984b, 1988). Shyles found a strong emphasis on defense and foreign policy in the 1984 primary ads. He also found that candidates in the presidential primary used the spots to convey their image characteristics and that the choice of issue or image content also related to the presentational style of the spots (Shyles, 1984b). For instance, spots that focused on the candidate’s image tended to be head-on candidate presentations, with candidates in formal attire.
Researchers have also noted the increasing difficulty in distinguishing between issues and images in campaign messages. Traditionally, issues have been viewed as statements of candidate positions on policy issues or preferences on issues or problems of public concern, whereas images have been viewed as a concentration on candidate qualities or characteristics (Kaid & Johnston, 1991; Kaid & Sanders, 1978). Many researchers acknowledge that this dichotomy is, in fact, a false one. As Rudd (1986) points out in his observation of spots from the 1982 Idaho gubernatorial campaign, issue spots are often used to bolster aspects of a candidate’s image.
Johnston and Kaid (2002) also suggest that modern televised political spots show a blending of image and issue information, making it difficult to separate them into distinct genres.
Political scientists have posed theoretical models about the information pro- vided about issues in political advertising. Chappell (1994) developed a model to explain the strategic decisions candidates use in determining whether to provide
or withhold information about policy positions via informative advertising and sug- gested that decisions about policy content of ads is dependent on candidate policy preferences, campaign fund endowments, partisan reputations, and incumbency status.
Researchers have also suggested a relationship between the issue content of ads and electoral success. Candidates seem to be more successful when their issue advertising focuses on issues over which they can claim ownership (Ansolabehere
& Iyengar, 1994). For instance, Republicans are often thought to “own” foreign policy issues, whereas Democrats fare better on claims about domestic policy. Benoit and Hansen (2002) have shown that, in fact, perceptions of issue ownership associated with the two parties is, indeed, evident in political advertisements. Democrats, for instance, are likely to stress education, health care, jobs/labor, poverty, and environment more frequently in primary election appeals to their own voters and somewhat less in general elections when they must appeal to voters from both parties. The same is true for Republicans, who are more likely to stress their issues (national defense, foreign policy, government spending/deficit, taxes, and illegal drugs) in Republican primaries than in general election campaigns.