Emotions and Reason?: The Strategic Use of Emotions in the 2012 Presidential Campaign Ads
Keywords:
affective intelligence, theories of strategic use of emotions, campaign ads, electoral ads, presidential election in MexicoAbstract
This essay analyzes, from the perspective of affective intelligence and theories of the strategic use of emotions in campaign ads, the electoral ads during the presidential election in Mexico in 2012. According to the theory of affective intelligence emotions, rather than compromising people’s rational process, help people relate to their environment. Positive emotions trigger individuals to rely in their habits when acting, while negative emotions make them look out for new information and rethink their previous decisions. Evidence from the U.S. show that campaign messages use images, music and colors to produce unconsciously emotions in voters, so they rethink or not their electoral decisions. In this study I code the emotions that campaign ads from the main presidential candidates tried to produce in the viewers. Finally, it shows the strategic use of emotions by the candidates and their campaign teams as a function of the candidates’ position in the contest.
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