Effective Negative Advertising in Political Campaigns Thesis By

Effective Negative Advertising in Political Campaigns

Thesis

Peter Šechny

Submitted in Partial fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts

Communication and Mass Media

State University of New York

Empire State College

2016

Reader: Ph.D., PhDr., M.A. Todd Nesbitt

Acknowledgment

First and foremost, I have to thank my thesis supervisor, Ph.D., PhDr., M.A Todd

Nesbitt. Without his assistance and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process, this paper would have never been accomplished. I would also like to thank to

Branislav Masarovič, Lucia Nicholsonova and Veronika Deckerova, for their time and participation on the thesis interviews.

However, none of this could have happened without my family. I would like to thank to my mother and father for their support not only during my senior year at university, but also during my whole studies. I also appreciate my sister for her faith in her brother, my grandparents for their sharing of experience, my colleagues Christy, Tomáš and Alena from the university, and my closest friends in Slovakia who made this time of my life unforgettable. I am happy that these people are around me.

Table of Content

I. Introduction ...... 6

II. Political Communication ...... 8

II.I. The Role of Politicians ...... 8

II. II. The Role of Media ...... 9

II. III. The Role of Citizens ...... 12

III. Advertising ...... 14

III.I. Political Advertising ...... 16

III. II. Political Advertising: Techniques and Applications ...... 18

III. III. Negative Advertising ...... 20

III. IV. Forms of Negative Political Advertising ...... 22

III. V. Measurements of Effects of Negative Political Advertising ...... 23

IV. Politics in Slovakia ...... 25

IV.I Negative Political Advertising in Slovakia ...... 27

IV. II. Marketing of Negative Political Advertising ...... 31

V. Case studies ...... 33

V.I. Bush vs. Dukakis ...... 34

V. II. Fico vs. Kiska ...... 36

V. III. Case studies from 2016 ...... 40

VI. Political Advertising in Slovakia: Empirical Study ...... 42

VI.I. Data Collection ...... 43

VI. II. Research Sample ...... 43

VI. III. Survey Questions ...... 44

VI. IV. Main Findings ...... 44 VI. V. Gender Differences among Sample ...... 46

VI. VI. Discussion ...... 48

VII. Conclusion ...... 48

Appendix ...... 51

Works Cited ...... 54

Bibliography ...... 59

Abstract

The paper focuses on negative advertising in political campaigns. It includes the analysis of such topics as, the concept of Political Communication, its roots, and the different roles that create this field; the field of political advertising, its types, and forms as well as techniques for effective measurements. The focus is on Slovakia and the presence of political advertising and negative advertising in the campaigns in the country. It is supported by different cases and comparisons within the same field in the United States of

America (USA). The paper explores awareness through an empirical study of negative political advertising in Slovakia. The study shows that people are fully aware of negative political advertising, accept it and can recognize its positives and negatives. It also proves that negative political advertising should not be the only type of advertisements used in political campaigns.

I. Introduction

In various ways, advertising has become an important tool for many businesses, but it has also become one of the most important parts of politics. Nowadays, rather than ten- ets and ideas, it is advertising and well-prepared marketing campaigns which help politicians succeed in elections. However, the tone of their political campaigns is starting to change from positive to negative. Politicians and their parties are attacking each other through the media using negative information to change the perceptions of their voters.

The whole political world has become a fighting arena, where the main issue is to search for negative information as well as to provide unclear and misleading materials.

This paper focuses on advertising strategies in political campaigns, which are driven by different approaches, including positive and negative advertising. Positive advertising is mainly about promoting ideas, beliefs and approaches while negative advertising is explained as any attack on the opponent (Walter, 2014, p. 44). Nowadays, it seems that people tend to be more receptive to negative rather than positive issues. It presents the fact that people are willing to pay more attention to negative issues more than positive ones (Zahedzadeh and Merolla, 2012, p.4). The companies and teams, which are working on such campaigns, know what is important to say and what is not. Thus, the strategy of political advertisers has shaped into presenting more negative issues and attacking opponents. Political campaigning has also changed; it has become more commercial and expensive which puts those political parties which do not have enough money to fi- nance such campaigns at a disadvantage. As a consequence, only the biggest parties with substantial budgets are those that survive the elections in the first place (McNair,

2013, p.37).

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze the role of negative advertising in contemporary political campaigns. Comparative case studies from Slovakia and the

USA will be presented in order to assess the effectiveness of this style of advertising in

Slovakia. It will also provide clear evidence regarding how negative advertising shapes the voters' attention and understanding of the issue. Additionally, it will argue that the teams working on campaigns need to be prepared to respond to the attacks on their candidates as a result of negative ads.

The first chapter will discuss political communication as a field. It will present basic terms and communicate how the media plays a crucial role in the realm of politics.

Nowadays, it is also important for campaigners to interact with their electorates through different channels, for example, social media. The chapter will also divide political communication into three elements and provide a basic overview of each of them.

At the time when negative advertising was changing and shaping to its current form, political experts shaped three different types of advertising in politics. These types are political attack advertising, comparative political advertising, and negative political advertising (Hughes, 2003, p.164). The differences between the three forms and what they involved will be the subject of Chapter III.III.

In Slovakia negative advertising is a relatively new tool in political campaigns. Slo- vakia, as a former communist country did not face negative campaigning in the past to the extent that it does today. Negative campaigning took its real form in the presidential elections in 2014 when it appeared between the two strongest candidates: socialist Rob-

ert Fico, who was at that time Prime Minister, and Andrej Kiska, who was new to politics. This example, and others, will be discussed in Chapter V. II.

II Political Communication

To be able to take the right steps in campaigning and properly analyze its advertising components, it is important to understand political communication as a field. Political communication can be understood as a process of exchanging information among politicians, media, and the public. It can be divided regarding actors of political communication and their role into three categories: the role of politicians, the role of media, and the role of citizens.

II. I. The Role of Politicians

First and foremost, it is important to understand the basic terms of political communication. Political actors are people/figures who are directly involved in politics. According to their shared ideas and beliefs, they group themselves and form political parties with the "agreed organizational and ideological structure to pursue common goals" (McNair

2013, p. 5). It is also important to mention that there are some non-party political actors, such as trade unions or pressure groups.

The basic role of politicians is to persuade the electorate about their ideas and about which direction is the best to take. Politicians and political parties use different tools to do so. The most basic tool is political advertising, which has shifted from positive to more negative. However, the role of politicians does not end after the election, thus, they must be able to communicate and continue persuading their voters that everything

that was promised is being or will be delivered. This is where many politicians often make a mistake; they simply suggest unrealistic goals.

According to McNair (2013, p.6), there are three elements of political communication and those are political organizations, media, and citizens. It is not surprising that political organizations are involved in political communication, but what is the role of the media and how can citizens be involved?

II. II. The Role of Media

Politicians have to communicate their ideas and strategies through certain channels.

History remembers magnificent public political speeches; nowadays, political parties change their way of communication and have started to use media as the main tool of persuasion. The media is the most powerful tool and has an enormous impact on citizens, yet the effect can also be negative, therefore, politicians must be careful about what is being said. However, apart from television, radio, and newspapers, the realm of media also includes the Internet with its unprecedented impact on citizens. There are also some ways and channels, such as blogs, which, on the one hand, politicians consider hostile, but on the other hand, blogs can be used as a channel through which politicians can get closer to their voters. On the Internet, people can interact and express their thoughts and ideas about different political steps and decisions; they can communicate with each other and, on many occasions, they can organize rallies.

New technologies have also brought new opportunities for politicians who interact with their supporters and citizens through social networks. People can see what their politicians are doing, where they are and how they behave in performing their public duties

and functions in the government. However, it also can be viewed in a negative way. The freedom of expression and openness of social networks give an opportunity for opponents to air negative information and attack their rivals. People can see it and interact, which can damage the reputation of public figures. In this case, it is important for politicians to be able to react effectively and to be prepared for everything. The media basically acts as a middleman between politicians and citizens.

Advertising plays a crucial role in political campaigning. It is a major platform where politicians are presented. When campaigning gets underway, the frequency of various types of political debates surges as well as the volume of information provided to public on political goals and objectives. Television, radio, and newspapers provide significant space for politicians to present their agenda. Politicians and political parties can buy slots and advertise their objectives to convince voters. It is necessary to do research before in order to determine which medium is the best in terms of meeting their objectives. The enormous increase in the interest of political parties to pay more for political advertising in the media is obvious from the example of Orlando in the USA, where in the same August week the number of political ads increased from zero in 2004 to 1,863 in 2012 (Robideaux, 2013, p.68). The interest of politicians to spend more is given by the fact that people are no longer eager to attend political rallies to listen to speeches.

As a result, politicians have to redirect their focus to new media platforms and interact with the audience via other channels. At the same time, political parties spent more money (and time) to advertise in the media. In every election year, political advertising begins earlier than in the year before. It is a consequence of the message provided as well as competitiveness (McNair, 2013, p.37).

Thus, the popular media, which carry political messages to the electorate, are gaining influence and earning more and more simply because they have become an interesting vehicle for politicians to gain popularity. However, nowadays, society is facing the fact of concentration media ownership. This is also important for political communication due to many media owners also being politicians. Therefore, it is more than visible that the whole programming structure and the ways in which messages are formulated are dictated by the agenda of the politician who owns a media channel (Djankov, McLiesh,

Nemova, and Shleifer, 2003, p. 342). This begs to question whether the media is still an objective source of information and delivered in a transparent fashion. On the other hand, this has led to the formation of channels, mainly Internet blogs or pages, which actually compare the same information provided by different media outlets. The viewer is able to see how the same piece of information can be twisted in different directions.

The existence of such channels or blogs is necessary to see the impact of, for example,

TV news on citizens.

The five main roles of media, according to McNair (2013, p.19-20), are to inform, edu- cate, facilitate the formation of public opinion, publicity, and advocacy. In relation to politics, the media should provide objective coverage of the situation. Reporters should cover all important government meetings and inform citizens about them. Their coverage should stimulate public discourse and open possibilities to shape public opinion.

One very important tool in political communication related to media is investigative journalism. This type of journalism is often the crux of the matter and raises issues that are not all that convenient for many public figures. However, investigative journalism has undergone a crisis in recent years due to various reasons, such as media ownership; increase in length of time needed to compose stories; decrease in time alloted to

construct stories; and most importantly – fear. There are many examples where journalists had to face hard situations such as extortion or even death. It has led to the limita- tion of objective and transparent information (Rosenthal, 2012, p.21).

II. III. The Role of Citizens

It is not only the politicians and media who are involved in political communication, but also, citizens. In fact, citizens are the most important element. When politicians fail, it is because they were unable, through campaigning or otherwise, to convince citizens. Citi- zens/voters should make informed choices and they should get reliable information.

One aspect, which is oftentimes neglected, is that politicians are there to represent citizens. Consequently, they should meet their criteria. One of the many roles of political communication is to persuade voters and build trust. Politicians have to use many different tools to do so. It can be suggested that the role of citizens is related to the role of politicians and the role of media. According to negative political advertising, the role of citizens can be explained as the actions, which citizens as voters, take and their reasons for doing so.

The role of the citizen then could also be related to the political efficacy. Political efficacy can be described as some trust of people to government and the belief that they are aware and can participate in public affairs. This efficacy was given to people at the be- ginning of their life and it also shapes the future engagement of people (Delli Carpini,

2004, p.398). Political efficacy can change according to the different cultural factors and also to media. The study of Miller, Goldenber, and Erbing (1979) suggested that negative political advertising could lower efficacy. Media, then, has an impact of voter’s virtue.

For the purpose of political communication, potential voters can be viewed as the audience. As mentioned above, the role of political communication is to convince the audience or lead the audience into believing that the politician or political party is the right one. It somehow has to build trust in political actors and a willingness to support them.

The main role of the audience is to provide feedback maily through, but not only, ballot boxes. Currently, it is possible to see something called "personalization of support of politics" which basically describes the political candidates who need media experts to create their figures in a way they could be elected. (Beus, 2011, p.21). As opposed to those voters who actually pay attention, watch their political candidate, and have information about him/her. It is then possible to see that the media can create public figures, which the audience believes are the right candidates for election.

Social capital also plays a crucial role in regards to citizens’ engagement in politics. Ac- cording to Delli Carpini (2004, p.402), the term social capital includes different forms of commitment in politics such as membership in organizations, attending public meetings, volunteering, discussing political issues, and participating in elections. It can be said that there is currently a visible decrease of social trust in politics (Putnam, 2000, p.216-218). People, mostly young people, tend not to care about politics and elections.

It was argued by Putnam (2000, p. 216-228) that it is the consequence of television and new media, mainly the Internet.

As in many other fields, the impact of political communication on society should be measured. Voting behavior represents the most basic and simplest way of measuring the impact. By the number/percentage of votes cast in their support, political parties can evaluate how effective their communication has been. However, many different types of

polls and surveys are conducted before the election itself. The results of such polls and surveys suggest the likelihood of success or failure. The media communicates information about the results, which has an enormous impact on voters’ behavior. The main criticism around these surveys is connected with the fact that many political parties present the results of their own surveys, which are by definition, not objective. However, the media is, for the most part, not eager to commission or conduct their own surveys and resort to presenting such subjective partisan statistics as relevant information. This is one of the factors behind the significant differences between the forecasts and reality.

III. Advertising

To understand political advertising, it is useful to consider the basic aspects of advertising in general. This chapter will provide a basic overview of the field of advertising, present political advertising and its techniques, and describe negative advertising, its forms, and the effects of this type of advertising. Advertising is the organized imper- sonal paid communication of information, which is used as a persuasive tool to sell products, services, and ideas (Arens, Schaefer, and Weigold, 2009, p.4). There are different types and ways of advertising in this field, such as brand advertising, comparative advertising, informative advertising, defensive advertising, and persuasive advertising.

Brand advertising is related to brand awareness and branding. It focuses on the customer's ability to remember a brand name so that the customer is more likely to buy it. In this type of advertising, methods such as jingles, colors, and slogans are used (Landa,

2005, p.8).

Comparative advertising is when at least two, for example, products are objectively compared without discrediting the competitor (Everitt and Bremer, 2006, p.58). People can see this type of advertising every day, such as in grocery stores, banks, public transport or even in restaurants. However, this type of advertising does not necessarily have to be objective. Many organizations use comparative advertising to damage other companies. It is visible and it can change the perception of consumers.

The informative type of advertising attempts to persuade customers through presenting the benefits of given product/services or ideas. In a way, this type of advertising edu- cates the audience. On the other hand, it omits the negatives or downsides of a given product (Hamilton, 2004, p. 2-3). People can come across the informative type of advertising in the car or food industry, for example, bioproducts.

Defensive advertising, contrary to competitive advertising, is more straightforward and less objective. Companies, using defensive tools, are trying to persuade customers that they have better products. However, in defensive advertising, as well as in other parts, those who advertise do not provide information in its entirety, thus, this advertising does not present the complete picture of a product.

Another type of advertising is persuasive advertising; advertisements are trying to persuade customers that they should buy a product because they, in fact, want and need it.

It uses phrases like: "without this, you will not be beautiful." These advertisements are trying to convince future customers that they would not be able to live without their products. Persuasive advertising is the strongest one in relationship to the behavior of the customers (Arens, Schaefer, and Weigold, 2009, p.109-113).

Even though these types of advertising are described in a general way, it is still possible to apply them to political communication. Many politicians are trying to compete with each other and are often comparing one with another. When presenting party mani- festos, politicians inform their voters on how things should look like and be done in the future. Moreover, people can indeed perceive a political party as brands; not only because it has a logo, but also because it has its own atmosphere and culture. People can recognize and relate the ideas of politicians to the ideas of parties.

III. I. Political Advertising

As mentioned in the introduction, advertising is the most powerful tool both in business and politics. It is also the most important part of every election campaign. For the purpose of this thesis, it is important to clearly define political advertising. Political advertising could be defined as a method where political actors pay for their promotion to gain some future voters and followers (Hughes, 2003, p.164). According to McNair

(2013, p.86), there are two main roles of advertising in politics - to inform and persuade. Politicians have to find ways to persuade future voters and bring them to vote for them. On the other hand, they should inform what steps they have taken and what con- tributions they have made to society.

Political advertising is strongly related to the medium in which it is presented. History shows that political advertising has undergone many changes as new types of media have emerged. For example, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who created the spot for his campaign, was the first to take advantage of television as a new medium in 1952 (Berger,

2011, p.67-69). With better availability and increased access, advertising as a tool has

become much more powerful. Politicians, nowadays, have many different media channels via which they can promote themselves and their ideas.

The role of persuasion is very important. First, there is an idea; advertising is mainly about how the idea can be spread publicly. Politicians and political parties, in this case, cooperate with different advertising agencies, PR specialists, and teams. Advertising should be customized depending on the media outlet used. An advertisement aired on television does not necessarily work for the radio, and vice versa. Consequently, political parties pay large sums of money during campaigning periods. In general, people is unaware and do not pay too much attention to advertising as a tool for changing their opinions. In fact, political advertising is what makes them believe in something or trust in someone they vote for to be in power for at least the next four years.

Political advertising can be divided into two general methods - positive and negative.

Positive advertising, or so-called fair advertising, should create a positive effect/impact on voters. It is based on factual information about the candidate (Ferguson, 1997, p.

467-468). It should present the goals and objectives of the political agenda. It creates awareness and offers a positive effect about the sponsored candidate. Positive advertising is more about the message than about any comparison with others. It focuses on the sponsored candidate and its future impact on citizens and politics, it tells stories about him/her, presents his/her family and their background. However, there are surely always certain hidden issues, which are not featured in positive advertising since they would damage the candidate's positive effect. This kind of information provides an opportunity to the candidate’s opponents to unveil them in the form of negative advertising.

III. II. Political Advertising - Techniques and Applications

The main purposes of political advertising are to establish the agenda, create awareness of the political figure, design the image, shape the issues, and to possibly raise money

(Harris, 2009, p. 246-247). Political advertising can take roots also from times of propaganda, which are now often referred to as marketing or public relations (Hobbs and

McGee, 2014, p.58). The Institute for Propaganda Analysis suggested the so-called

"seven common propaganda devices" where it described different tools propagandist may use to shape the perception of his/her audience. For the purpose of this paper, using these devices is an example of how some historical findings can be applied in today's political world and political advertising. Most of these techniques are used in political debates and campaigns. Candidates use different persuasive tools to attract the audience. Apart from attacking opponents and their agendas, other propaganda aspects can be very effective. If executed skillfully, the audience will not even recognize that a politician is using propaganda techniques.

The seven propaganda techniques, as aforementioned, are name calling, bandwagon, glittering generalities, flag waving, plain folks, testimonial, and stacking the cards (In- stitute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938). Name calling, as a first device, pushes the audience into accepting a fact without any detailed consideration of the facts. Basically, it is used when a candidate is trying to attack his/her opponent and degrades him/her through the use of insulting words and/or comparing him/her with other politicians or well-known people. Bandwagoning is a tool that is used mainly by marketers, where customers are doing it because others do it too. In the world of politics, especially during campaigns, the phrases like "everybody votes for" or "everyone supports" are com- monplace. People then want to be a part of the majority, because people often prefer to

be a part of the majority rather than being different (Standler, 2005, p.6). Using the glittering generality device, the candidate is focusing more on things or issues to which people are emotionally attached. This tool makes a massive use of the words like freedom, truth and education. The candidate is trying to show how he/she is related to that topic. It can be used when there are problems in the educational system or health services. The candidate, by using the glittering generalities device, is pointing out these problems and presenting his or her ideal solutions (Hobbs and McGee, 2014, p.59). The transfer devices, also known as flag waving, are linked with symbols. Candidates use different symbols to make a connotation. These connotations could be positive or negative. It depends on the symbols. For example, in Slovakia, if a candidate uses ‘hammer and sickle’, the audience may link him/her with historical events and the old regime. On the other hand, candidates could use it as comparisons by showing that hammer and sickle are not positive, and people should not be afraid that the past would return

(Standler, 2005, p.6).

Using the Plain Folks device, politicians present themselves as part of the common folks. It is highly related to a discourse in which candidates use the right words that connect them with the audience. These words are populist and people feel a connection with their candidate. A testimonial is another tactic by which the candidate can increase the number of supporters. It uses other public figures, called opinion leaders, who voice their support for the candidate, but also businesses and organizations tend to be engaged. If the audience sees that such people and organizations support the candidate, they are likely to follow. Finally, the stacking the cards device uses statistics in a specific way, where it omits other information, so the candidate over-emphasis issues and avoids the facts (Hobbs and McGee, 2014, p.59).

The before mentioned techniques are not the only tools available to politicians. Politi- cians can also use various forms of appeals to relate to their audience. These appeals could be divided as follows: fear appeals, patriotic appeals and family and affiliation appeals (Harris, 2009, p.248). Fear appeals should create voters' fear of opposition candidates by portraying how it would look if he or she were elected into office. Politi- cians, in this appeal, could present their arguments by highlighting an opponent’s past actions and using them to determine his or her behavior in the future. Patriotic appeals are similar to the previously described flag waving theory in which a politician uses the national symbols and tradition to promote himself or herself. Family and affiliation appeals are related to traditional photographs of candidates with their families. People, voters, could somehow relate them with the candidate and his/her strong family ties

(Harris, 2009, p.248-249).

As described, the usage of these devices is highly related to choosing the right words.

Candidates have to choose also a design by which they will persuade voters. This design depends on symbols, colors, and slogans. It is a heavy part of advertising and marketing. As a result, the "seven common propaganda devices" can be used even in the present-day political world.

III. III. Negative Political Advertising

The negative form of political advertising is not such a new tool. The presence of negative advertising was found in the 1800's election in the United States, where two candidates Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, known as the Founding Fathers, participated in a very negativistic political campaign in which these two candidates used defamation tactics against each other. However, back then the legislation regulating such attacks

and dissemination of false information was very strict. A journalist who was part of this campaign was sued under the Sedition Act of 1798, due to having intentions to destroy the public image of Adams by publishing false information about this candidate to build a better image for Jefferson (Ragsdale, 2005, 27).

Negative advertising is mainly about attacks and creating negative opinions about the opponent. The basic purpose of negative advertising is to attack opponents and highlight their negative attributes while promoting a positive image of the candidate. It is possible to say that negative advertising and comparison overall is a natural process by which people create an image of themselves by competing and comparing with others.

Political attacking uses the same method, where politicians are trying to persuade voters about the fact that they are the best while other candidates make many mistakes.

According to Andrew Hughes's work, Defining Negative Political Advertising (2003, p.

164), there could be three types of political advertising: attack political advertising, comparative political advertising, and negative political advertising. First, the purpose of attack political advertising is to attack the opponent. It is done in the form of provid- ing negative information, mostly related to corruption, infidelity or basically anything that can negatively impact the opponent's reputation. Attack political advertising is gen- erally a one-way type of communication and it is very destructive. The opponent at this stage should not be prepared for such assault and it sometimes takes more time to for his/her reaction. This type of political advertising is the most aggressive and the most powerful. Second, comparative political advertising is also a form of negative advertising where the candidate makes a comparison between himself/herself and the opponent.

The field of comparative advertising is not only related to politics, but people as con-

sumers can come across this type of advertising in their everyday lives. In the case of comparative political advertising, it can take the form of a two-way communication, debate, in which candidates compare each other in different fields. However, this form of advertising could have an indirect form where the comparison is more general and presents the candidate regarding the overall position of his/her contra candidates (Wil- liams and Page, 2013, p. 47-49). This type of political advertising changes voters' perceptions and shapes their future voting behaviors. It is easier for them compare their candidates when a comparison is already given. The comparison is contingent by researchers, experiences, and records. The longer a politician is in the politics and the longer his public exposure is, the easier it gets for his or her opponents to find ways of showing how they would do things better, cheaper, and more effectively. Lastly, negative advertising is similar to attacking advertising, but is more long-term. It also can use comparisons, so it includes the comparative political advertising. The main reason advertisers have started to focus, mainly; on the negative political advertising is the people/voter's mind. People tend to recall negative issues more clearly than the positive ones. It captures more of the audience’s attention and people can more emotionally participate in the advertising; they can also relate it to their lives and, finally, they can become a part of the campaign (Zahedzadeh and Merolla, 2012, p.5).

III. IV. Different Forms of Negative Advertising

According to a study from Johnson-Cartee and Copeland in 1991, there are standardized forms which have derived from negative political campaigns. These forms are: being your own worst enemy, the people against you, transfer, us against them, and dispar- agement humor (Bolinder, 1992, p.44). These forms were recognized during the nega-

tive campaigns and helped researchers to distinguish behavior and tools of these campaigns. It grouped together different factors.

Being your own worst enemies is a design, which derives from history. Politicians became their own enemies when the opponents were able to recall what was said previously against them. The people against you - as the name of this design suggests, in almost every campaign there are people against the candidate. However, this design is related to people who are, for example, from the same party or from the same background. Transfer is a design related to different groups that support the candidate. These groups can either increase the candidate's popularity or decrease the number of his/her, voters. It can also be related to different pressure groups. Furthermore, transfer can be related to events, which occurred when he/she was in the office, but he/she could not be responsible for, for example, natural disasters. People might link them to the candidate, and it can change their perception. The us against them approach is associated with different groups of people – those living in cities versus those in rural areas. In political communication the us is the home team, and the they are the opponents. Finally, dispar- agement humor is a widely used tactic whereby a candidate is attacking his/her opponents by using humor. He/she makes fun of, for example, their opponent’s intelligence or historical events. There are many different approaches by which negative advertising effectiveness can be measured, which provide information about the increase in use of such a tool in political communication (Bolinder, 1992, p. 47).

III. V. Measurements of Effects of Negative Campaigns

Another way of measuring the success of negative campaigns is through various types of effects. For the purpose of this paper, two effects have been chosen: sleeper effect

(Weaver Lariscy and Tinkham, 1999, p. 13-14) and boomerang effect (Bolinder, 1992, p.50). The sleeper effect is related to a late response to an attack. It is given by an untrustworthy source, which is lately forgotten and people pay attention to it afterward

(Moore and Hutchinson, 1985, p. 526). In this case, people tend not to pay close attention to this part of the campaign, due to the unreliable source. This source could be untrustworthy because of historical usage or other issues related to it. The boomerang effect is also related to an untrustworthy source, but from a different perspective. The untrustworthy source may create mixed feelings among the audience, which could cause their disbelief in the candidate. In most cases the source is without any evidence or there is the lack of documentation that lead people not to believe in their candidate. The boomerang effect can shift a voter’s mindset into the exact opposite, which could result in a decreasing number of voters (Daiton and Zelley, 2015, p.108). In both effects, candidates should pay close attention to the methods they are actually going to use and how they could corroborate the source.

Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to measure the effectiveness of negative advertising without measurements of the whole campaign. On the one hand, there are results from the elections, yet, on the other hand, the effectiveness of the campaign could not be separated into divisions of advertising as to whether the positive advertising was the most powerful or the attack on the opponent (Procter and Schenck-Hamlin, 1996, p.149). Political advertising, then, should be somehow composed of both negative and positive tools.

IV. Politics and Political Advertising in Slovakia

One of the aims of this thesis is to explore the situation of negative political advertising in Slovakia. This chapter will elaborate on the situation of politics and political advertising in this country. Politic advertising and marketing in Slovakia might be described as rapidly developing. Since 1993, when Slovakia became an independent state, politics and political communication have rapidly changed. An important date for Slovakia and also for Slovak politics was the accession to the European Union in 2004. Since the accession, political figures, the media, and their involvement in political campaigns, have started to receive more visibility. People view political parties as "takers" rather than

"givers" and the whole atmosphere is currently very disorganized and implausible. In such a stage, politicians and political parties should pay more attention to what is going to be said/done during the campaigns.

Media coverage of political issues is at average levels when comparing with other countries. The greatest interest of media in politics is during the election period. In terms of television, Slovakia has one public-service TV broadcaster and many private TV broad- casters. The public-service television (RTVS) is regulated by the government, hence, the content is restricted, which could shape political debates (Štensová and Š tarchoň,

2009, p.324). In contrast, private TV stations are trying to confront politicians with less pleasant issues. However, as mentioned above, there is also a lack of professional investigative journalism in Slovakia. Moreover, some television channels were accused of choosing only some candidates for their debates (Augustín, 2008). More space for politicians is given during the campaigns. The other media, such as daily newspapers, cover topics in a rather neutral way, but there are some newspapers, which are more subjective and present political parties in a negative way.

Political advertising is also going through different changes, and it is related to the changes in legislation in 2006. These changes include, for example, the cancellation of the moratorium on political campaign, private media could participate in political campaigns, elections lasted only one day, and Slovak citizens who live abroad can vote via post (Štensová and Štarchoň, 2009, p. 320). Political marketing went through many stages since the first campaigns appeared. One of the most significant changes is that political parties hire outside agencies. Political parties, in the past, prepared campaigns for themselves. They would have internal staff responsible for this type of advertising.

Nowadays, the situation is different. Political parties are hiring external PR/marketing agencies to help them with their campaign. The difference is quite visible (Žúborová,

2011, p.3).

In recent years, there has been a visible change in the relationship to people/voters behavior. Opinion polls suggest that people simply do not care anymore and tend to take last-minute decisions. They do not know who would they actually vote for, but they at least know whether the party or candidate of their choice will be from the right wing or left wing.

In Slovakia, the negative political advertising seems to be increasing in scope, and it seems to be mainly related to attacks and comparison. Chapter V contains the most recent example from the 2014 presidential elections when Prime Minister Robert Fico accused his counter-candidate, Andrej Kiska, of being a Scientologist. This topic was the most discussed during the election. Negative advertising is not only present during the

election campaign, but also after, when the opposition parties are trying to smear those who were elected.

IV. I. Negative Advertising in Slovakia

For the sake of presenting first-hand information, the author of this paper conducted three interviews about the situation of negative advertising in Slovakia. The interviewees were Lucia Nicholsonova, member of SaS Party (Sloboda a Solidarita / Freedom and Solidarity), a member of the government, Branislav Masarovič who is marketing/PR consultant for different political parties, and a former journalist and the owner of a PR agency, Veronika Deckerova from Supreme organization.

The first interviewee, Lucia Nicholsonová, was a candidate in the 2016 parliamentary elections. She is a member of a liberal party and their main political rival is Prime Min- ister Robert Fico. The interview was mostly about the negative advertising in Slovakia, its existence, and her view on this topic. First of all, Mrs. Nicholsonova thinks that negative campaigns could be accepted only when there is humor, and when it is simple.

The Slovak audience did not seem to take to too much fighting and negative issues. On the other hand, negative advertising and its current form are at its beginnings, since, presently, a campaign does not have an independent and informative value but only a ground floor attempt to harm someone. Therefore, it is rather counterproductive. In the relationship between the positive and negative advertising, she sees some cooperation, but negative advertising could not exist without the positive one.

One of many tools of negative advertising is mixing the professional and private life of politicians. Many negative advertisements were based on private activities or concerns

of the actors. The problem is whether these two aspects of life should be a part of heavy campaigns or should they be omitted. Lucia Nicholsonova thinks that a politician should present himself/herself as an ordinary citizen and should pursue a policy of open doors. However, it should not be presented in a vulgar and tabloid way.

As mentioned above, politicians did not used to use marketing tools very frequently.

They had to rely on their name and presence. Political advertising was not used as it is today (Žúborová, 2011, p.2). The presence of negative advertising can be seen mainly in slogans on billboards and political discussions on television. It is possible to say that negative advertising mounted during the 2010 election campaign. The main slogans were "The stop sign for Fico" where the SDKU party wanted to persuade voters to stop the rule of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

It is important to note that each political party/candidate in Slovakia uses two ways of political advertising. One method involves their description as to what they want to do for the people and how it will improve their lives. At the same time, political parties and candidates are telling voters that their rivals are liars and failures. People want to believe in a better future, which can be seen in TV spots, but negativism and negative emotion attract more attention (Masarovič, Personal Communication, March 29, 2016).

Importantly enough, political parties and also their supporters are divided into two main camps: left-wing supporters and right-wing supporters. The interviewees suggested that during campaigning it is necessary to know the preferences of these two groups (Ni- cholsonova, Personal Communication, March 7, 2016). The left-wing oriented expect promises of a better future, as well as discussions about other popular topics, while the right-wingers are looking more at the past achievements of candidates. If a candidate

had done something positive in the past, he could win the vote even with minimum advertising. Another important aspect are ‘meet-and-greet’ opportunities. Those politicians who spend months touring the country are more likely to canvass support locally

(Masarovič, Personal Communication, March 29, 2016).

In fact, negative advertising in Slovakia is not used more than in the past. In the past, however, negative advertising was different and more aggressive. Politicians were afraid of people in higher positions and there was not enough diversity among political parties (Nicholsonova, Personal Communication, March 7, 2016). However, there are more options for presenting it. In the past, it was sufficient to organize rallies for a handful of supporters, while, today, politicians need to capture the interest of the masses to persuade voters. To do so, politicians use negative advertising to attract the media which then disseminate information to millions. In comparison to 300-500 participants attending a campaign meeting, the media have greater influence and, thus, negative advertising plays a crucial role (Masarovič, Personal Communication, March 29, 2016).

Negative political advertising also mobilizes people allowing them to more readily react. However, it is possible to see the lack of sensibility of some parties in relationship to the usage of negative political advertising (V. Deckerova, Personal Communication,

March 15, 2016). The most visible example of this lack of sensibility is the OLANO-

NOVA party, chaired by Igor Matovič. The party’s attacks are straightforward and the negative message is presented very aggressively. People like such aggressiveness, as evidenced by unprecedented number of reactions in Internet discussions or blogs (V.

Deckerova, personal communication, March 15, 2016).

In the interview, Branislav Masarovič suggested that the history of the country has an influence on people's decision. Slovakia was, is, and will suffer from a kind of syn- drome based on one type of politician. There are many superficial and simple voters who do not delve deep enough and make decisions out of sympathy for someone. This one type of politician has great communication skills by which he/she can persuade those voters, but if a person goes much deeper in the speeches he/she can find out that much of what has been said is unrealistic (Masarovič, Personal Communication, March

29, 2016). It is possible to relate this one type of politician to Vladimír Mečiar as well as Róbert Fico. In their campaigns, they talked about a better future but after they became members of the government, many of the presented issues about a better future were not even brought to the table.

According to both interviewees, Mrs. Nicholsonova and Mr. Masarovič, the media plays a crucial role in negative political advertising. Negative advertising is used mainly because the media encourage political parties to do so. There are many different interests in the media, such as media ownership, which lead to giving preference to one direction of advertising over the others. In the case of negative advertising, it is different.

The media prefer negativity because their consumers prefer negativity. However, the role of negative advertising can also be counterproductive. For example, attacks as part of negative advertising have an impact on the undecided voters in that they become even more confused and those who are already angry become even more irritated

(Masarovič, personal communication, March 29, 2016).

IV. II. Marketing of Negative Political Advertising in Slovakia

The interviews were also designed to provide a general overview of political marketing, especially political marketing of negative political advertising in Slovakia. It is possible to suggest that negative political advertising is more widespread in the US than in Slo- vakia. Also, due to more experience, many political parties tend to cooperate with marketing or PR agencies from abroad. As mentioned above, in the past, political parties used to develop their strategies internally, using in-house resources, without hiring external agencies, but is this the current situation?

Since 1989, Slovakia has undergone many stages and changes in the area of political marketing. The messages have become more sophisticated and so have the ways in which they are delivered. This is mainly due to cooperation with professional PR agencies. Many parties hire marketing/PR agencies for help with things like verbal and non- verbal communication and creative issues (V. Deckerova, Personal Communication,

March 15, 2016).

At present, not many agencies are willing to disclose their cooperation with political parties in Slovakia. This is mainly due to the fact that consumers perceive helping political parties as something negative. People usually do not distinguish between personal and professional life and are, thus, more inclined to believe that a marketing agency which cooperates with a political party identifies itself with everything that party says and encompasses (V. Deckerova, personal communication, March 15, 2016). This gen- eralization can damage the reputation of the party as well as the individual employees at the agency. Moreover, there is a tendency for political parties/candidates to cooperate with outside agencies from abroad. According to Branislav Masarovič (Personal Com-

munication, March 29, 2016), these foreign agencies can bring new perspectives and new strategies to prepare reliable and useful negative advertising. He had an opportunity to cooperate with people from AKPD agency, which helped Barack Obama to win the election. This agency had different views and ideas. However, there is also a down- side to cooperating with a foreign agency. Such an agency does not know the market and people; even if it can bring something new, it may not work because of cultural and demographic differences. On the other hand, this may also work the other way around as there are Slovak marketers and spin doctors who also worked in political campaigns abroad (V. Deckerova, Personal Communication, March 15, 2016).

Another, and very important issue, is the preparation of a negative campaign. It should be well prepared; otherwise, it can be counterproductive. It needs to include the verifi- cation of facts, impact assessment, and experience. Experience is very important in case things do not work the way they should. If an agency over-cooks its product and the negative advertising goes too far, it changes the whole strategy and the role of attacking

(Masarovič, Personal Communication, March 29, 2016).

In political marketing, it is necessary to think about the cooperation with media. PR agencies need to sell the idea/politician to the media. In Slovakia, TV stations decide whom to invite to televised debates. As mentioned above, negative advertising is more attractive than just presenting positive issues. Marketing specialists need to create some negativity to stir interest in the candidate and give him/her an opportunity to be seen in televised discussions. The basic problem is the ownership and promotion of one candidate over the others. This subjective position gives more opportunities to the "famous"

candidates over those candidates who might have more to say. The media represent a powerful tool for changing the perceptions and views of the population - voters.

The future of negative advertising, in Slovakia, can be described as an increasing tool of political communication. Not only in relationship to campaigns, but also in general.

Slovak politicians do not need a pre-election campaign to attack each other. While will bring more scandals, both interviewees are afraid that it will not be beneficial. It will open up more issues, but it would not be relevant and transparent (Nicholsonova, personal communication, March 7, 2016). It will increase the interrelation between media and opportunities, however it may not be representative, since to attack someone either by verbal or non-verbal means, facts are usually needed. Therefore, to attack someone only because it works on the general population does not necessarily mean that it works overall. That being said, people would understand which cases/attacks are transparent to the voters and which are not. Higher number of cases/attacks may provide a better overview for citizens who might have become desensitized to the attacks (Masarovič, personal communication, March 29, 2016).

The next chapter will focus on cases from Slovakia and the USA to provide more information and highlight differences between the two countries. It will also show some implementation and effectiveness of negative advertising during the political campaigns.

V. Case Studies

The negative advertising in political communication can be viewed in famous cases. For the purpose of this thesis, two cases were chosen to describe negative advertising as a

field. Since this paper is trying to compare the USA and Slovakia, there will be one case from each country. The case from the USA concerns Bush Sr. and Dukakis and the Slo- vak case is about two presidential candidates, Robert Fico and Andrej Kiska.

V. I. Bush vs. Dukakis (the USA case)

Before the presentation of the case regarding the presidential elections from 1988, it is important to analyze the presence and possible movement of negative advertising in the

USA. According to Figure 1 (Geer, 2009, p.2), it is possible to see the increase of the share of negativity in Presidential Campaigns between 1960 - 2008. In 1960, there was only less than 10% share of negativity in the media, while in 1988 it was more than

30% and more than 60% in 2008. These measurements were done regarding to the coverage of negative advertising in the different television channels (Geer, 2009, p.4).

There could be different reasons for this shift that could be related to media improve- ment, interest of journalists or, basically, the awareness and engagement of the voters.

The US elections in 1988, where the Republican candidate, George Bush Sr., used persuasive negative advertising against Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, are well known for the attacks. Bush advertised heavily to present his opponent in a bad light by using different types of attacks. He presented Dukakis as an ineffective liberal who would rather intimate the defense of the country and let prisoners out of jail. The opponent, Dukakis, refuted this attack, but it was too late. George Bush won by 53.9% in contrary to Dukakis 46.1% (King, 2013).

Dukakis, as well as Bush's campaign organizations, had to face different questions and demands from the press. The media is one of many causes that lead to misunderstand- ings as well as creating fake stories. For example, when the campaign reached its cli- max, some media called and asked Dukakis’ team whether the candidate was hospital- ized in a psychiatric ward (Duncan, 1989, p.6). It is a great example as to how negative and fake advertising is built. It needs someone (most of the times the opponent) to start with the negativity and then other channels such as media continue the work.

This case was chosen mainly because there is the visible shift of media coverage regarding negative political advertising since 1988 in the USA. It is mainly related to the in- terpretation of stories presented by the media. There was a significant increase, almost

70%, of interpretative stories between 1960 and 1988. The media paid more attention to negative advertising because it could promote and interpret different strategies (Geer,

2009, p.6). It is possible then to suggest that not only the individual types of negative advertising but also the engagement of the media cause the strength of negative advertising in the given case.

This case includes heavy negative advertising and it is from 1988. In comparison to

Slovakia, which did not exist at that time, it is possible to say that negative advertising is more widespread and better targeted in the USA. Many American marketing/PR agencies are considered as the best professionals in negative advertising (Masarovič, personal communication, March 29, 2016). One of the most famous issues regarding negative advertising in this case is Michael Dukakis and the tank. Many people discussed and did not understand what was wrong about having a candidate photographed in a tank. However, not the tank, but the helmet which he wore was the problem. It made him look hilarious and people started to make fun of him. The opponent, Bush, and his team took an opportunity use the video from this event and advertise it. The advertising described what Michael Dukakis opposed (for example, new aircraft carriers and anti-satellite weapons). It ended with the words "and now he wants to be our com- mander and chief" and, at the very end; the message says, "America can't afford that risk" (King, 2013). It was a direct attack from the Bush side and it worked well. Most of

America made fun of Dukakis.

V. II. Fico vs. Kiska (the Slovakia case)

Even though Slovakia is a relatively new country, it has a history of negative advertising from its early days. One of the first prime ministers of Slovakia, Vladimír Mečiar, used negative advertising and many other strategies described above. However, his negative advertising was not only about verbal attacks on opponents, but he also took some actions to harm other candidates. It is possible to say that negative advertising had a very different and dramatic methodology than it has today (Nicholsonova, personal communication, March 7, 2016).

As mentioned above, Slovakia went through many changes regarding its political advertising. Advertising in television, for example, got many restrictions from the Council for

Broadcasting and Retransmission. Political advertising can be applied in a given time period, before the elections start. However, it should be clearly separated from other programs; including advertising, and should be announced that it is a paid posting. At the same time, political advertising is required to air for a maximum of 10 hours during the whole campaign (SITA, 2012).

For the purpose of this thesis, a case from 2014 involving two candidates running for president was chosen for the discussion. On the one side, there was Prime Minister

Robert Fico, who had already many supporters thanks to his political history. Neverthe- less, many people disliked or hated him and wanted a change. This hatred stemmed mainly from people's concern that one man/one party would rule the country. These perceptions helped the second candidate, Andrej Kiska. He was new to the political world and at the time of the campaign, he was a businessman who had many experiences in the business world. The change which people called for helped his campaign to be more successful. There were other politicians who did not want Robert Fico as president, therefore, they cooperated and supported Andrej Kiska.

The support of Andrej Kiska by other parties was mainly visible on billboards. Howev- er, the main actor from these parties was the SaS party which produced many billboards as cartoons with Robert Fico's portrait and the following messages: "You already have

European salaries, I also deserve something!” "I promised you assurance, so give me a function!" Such advertisements provoked fierce attacks against Robert Fico.

The most famous attacks took place when Robert Fico said at a press conference: "It is not a secret that he (Andrej Kiska) earned money by usury and he is still continuing with usury today in the Czech Republic" (Mikušovič, 2014). Another attack, previously mentioned, was related to Kiska's religious beliefs. Robert Fico said, at the same press conference, that Andrej Kiska was part of the events related to the baptism of various books and meetings with different people, who say that there is a great closeness to the sect of Scientology, which is very dangerous (Mikušovič, 2014). These attacks happened in March 2014 when, according to FOCUS research agency, Robert Fico was ahead in the run with almost 35% support compared with Andrej Kiska’ 23% (Focus,

2014).

This fact is interesting mainly because in the first election round Robert Fico won with

28% and Andrej Kiska finished second with 24% of the vote. After the first round, there were additional public debates between these two politicians. In keeping with the strategy of negative advertising and attacks, Robert Fico continued to present his two main arguments: usury and Scientology. This had legal consequences, initiated by Andrej

Kiska. The whole situation was fascinating for voters and they started to pay more attention to the elections, which is obvious from turnout figures in the first and second round. While the first attracted 1,899,332 voters who cast their votes for 14 candidates, the second round, with only two candidates, brought 2,200,906 voters to ballot boxes

(FOCUS, 2014).

A professional team and well-prepared reactions to Robert Fico’s attacks gave Andrej

Kiska the upper hand in the second round. Andrej Kiska simply asked Robert Fico to present to the public all the evidence corroborating his allegations. Robert Fico declared

he would do so, but it never happened (Mikušovič, 2014). It can be related to the name calling technique of propaganda. This was a part of the tools, which caused Fico's failure in the second round when he got 40.6% while his opponent gained almost 60%

(59.4%) of the vote (FOCUS, 2014).

This case is an example of how negative advertising is done in Slovakia. It also proves that people simply do not believe in everything and that they want to see facts. Fake information can change voter's preferences and turn winners into losers and vice versa.

The case also sends a clear message that people, as voters, do not rely only on negative advertising, but they also take the positive aspects of campaigning into account. This comparison of positive and negative advertising was also a subject of the research the results of which are presented in Chapter VI.

The difference between these two cases from the USA and Slovakia is obvious. In the

USA case, Bush took action and used direct facts (pictures and/or video) to destroy the reputation of the opposing candidate, Michael Dukakis using the fear appeals technique. It is the example where one candidate (Dukakis) did not take the right steps and did not think about the consequences. This case also showed how a small mistake, such as wearing a helmet, could send the whole campaign down the drain. On the other hand, the Slovak case is another form of negative advertising using allegations intended to damage the opponent’s reputation. However, the evidence was not presented and it led only to controversy. The allegations were not substantiated and people simply did not trust them, which was visible in the increase of Kiska's voters. The presence of negative advertising in the case from Slovakia was given by billboard campaign made by other parties, which did not want to have Robert Fico as the president. Both cases clearly

show how someone’s actions can backfire, so it should be the job of marketing and PR specialists to prepare their clients for such twists of fortune.

V. III. Case studies from 2016

The year 2016 can be called the election year in Slovakia and in the USA. In Slovakia, parliamentary elections took place on March 5, 2016; the USA presidential election will take place on November 8, 2016. These elections are accompanied by robust campaigns in which negative advertising also plays the important role. This Chapter provides some examples of the existence of negative advertising in the year 2016.

The political scene of Slovakia is basically split into two parts, the left and the right.

The left-wing has only a handful of parties, unlike the right-wing (FOCUS, 2016).

There is a visible lack of negative advertising within the same party orientation, but it is presented in battles between the right and left. Due the fact there is only one powerful leftist party, SMER, more attacks come from the rightist parties. The whole atmosphere of the campaign was heavily affected by different strikes of teachers and nurses. The ruling party, SMER, did not take any actions to stop the strikes, so the opposition parties used it as a tool to attack SMER and persuade future voters. This glittering generality helped their candidates, because voters are emotionally related to these topics, and they also feel engaged. There was an existence of support of people from the outside, so not only teachers and nurses were on strike, but also their supporters. This formed a new alliance of people who had issues with the ruling party, which gave an opportunity to the opposition to canvas additional support (Krempaska, 2016).

Another important issue regarding negative advertising in the elections of 2016 in Slo- vakia, included the attacks by Robert Fico from SMER party on Igor Matovič from

OĽANO party. It was a classical example of the stacking the cards technique where

Robert Fico used some statistical data to smear Matovič's reputation. The case was about the alleged tax fraud by Matovič from 2008. For Matovič's reputation, there were taken only some facts from the whole document and Robert Fico used them as a tool.

This case was presented through the media and police raided Matovič's offices to seize evidence. Many experts were discussing the issue and did not agree with Fico. (Chudá,

2016) However, Igor Matovič made a number of statements and presented certain facts, which helped him and increased the percentage of his supporters. This attack was quite interesting because it did not ruin the reputation of its target; on the contrary, it helped him. Negative advertising can be described as a tool in which even he who pulls out a gun must never drop his guard because of the backfiring effect.

Other issues were the usage of the name of Robert Fico's party SMER in the opponents' advertisements. For example, MOST-HID party used the SMER party name in their billboards with the message: "Can you image a parliament without SMER? We can!"

This type of advertising was negative advertising to SMER party, which presented the possibility of the government without it. Another party that used messages against Rob- ert Fico in their advertisements was the SaS party. This party attacked Robert Fico through their sponsored Facebook advertisements in which they posted different information against SMER and its leader. It is an example of shaping the attention from traditional media to the new media such as social networks. Even negative political advertising could be done powerfully.

For this paper, there will be a case of the USA presidential campaigns for elections in

2016. This case will include the Republican Party, which negatively attacked Donald

Trump in the state of Florida. The attacks were pretty straightforward, and their purpose was to persuade the voters not to vote for Donald Trump. It presents the personal engagement of Donald Trump to the country in the form that there is kind of lack of this engagement (Sherlock, 2016). Donald Trump is well known for his straightforwardness and many of his advertisements and talks include negative messages regarding the state, different population groups, and other political candidates.

Using a glittering generality device where people are emotionally related to the topics, which are either commended or criticized by the candidate, could be counterproductive.

Donald Trump is using for example immigrants as a subject of his speeches. He criti- cizes immigrants from Mexico and uses many fallacies. It can be used against him. Ob- viously, there are people who agree with him, but on the other side, there are people who can have some background and could sympathize with immigrants. Donald

Trump's issues can also be questioned in relationship to ethics. There should be some limits given by law, but it is questionable whether agencies even pay attention to it

(Masarovič, personal communication, March 29, 2016).

VI. Political Advertising in Slovakia: Empirical Study

This chapter will present the results of a survey, which was designed to present the situation, the acceptance, and awareness of political advertising in general, and of negative political advertising in Slovakia, in particular. The purpose of the research was to find out whether people know the differences between the negative and positive political advertising, pay attention to negative advertising, and whether political advertising affects

their choices during elections. This chapter familiarizes the reader with the data collection used for a study of negative advertising in Slovakia and with demographic charac- teristics of the target population.

VI. I. Data Collection:

For the purpose of the survey, both web-based and printed questionnaires were used.

The questionnaire contained 10 questions of which 7 dealt directly with political advertising and negative political advertising in Slovakia. At the end of the survey, there were three questions related to demographics, such as gender, age, and education. The survey was set up on the surveymonkey.com platform as well as distributed to people by hand.

Participants were invited to answer the questionnaire via the social network platform –

Facebook. The survey was conducted in the Slovak language only, and it was translated into English only for the bachelor thesis purposes. The first part of the questionnaire describes the terms such as political advertising, positive political advertising, and negative political advertising.

VI. II. Research Sample:

This survey took place between March 29 and March 31 and included 72 participants.

The research sample for this survey was, based on age, divided into six categories (18-

25; 26-35; 36-45; 46-55; 56-65; 66+) from which a vast majority (39%) were from the youngest age group that can be described as ‘first-time voters’. The second largest group (26-35) included 28% of the respondents. The other age groups included less than

10% respondents. According to gender, there were more women 38 (53%) than men 34

(47%). In relationship to education 50 (69%) participants were university graduates, 21

(29%) completed secondary education, one completed primary education. No one chose the option "other" which was among the question options.

VI. III. Survey Questions:

The questionnaire includes the questions about the overall awareness of the political advertising in Slovakia. It also asked a question whether negative political advertising had an impact on the respondent’s voting preferences and behavior. The survey also tried to focus on the respondents’ awareness of political campaigning and their views on whether this type of campaigning is useful and ethical. It was designed to present differences between positive and negative political advertising. The purpose of this survey was to identify differences between genders and their views on political advertising, how the age can affect the voting behavior and, finally, how the level of education level is important when it comes to the influence of negative advertising on the voting behavior.

VI. IV. Main Findings:

The first important issue was if people, in general, could recognize the difference between the positive and negative political advertising. Almost 90% (63 participants) answered that they could recognize this difference, compared to 11% (8 participants) who said that they could not recognize the difference. This suggests that people are aware of the existence of positive political advertising and negative political advertising. This question was important because the following questions focused on the impact of negative advertising and people who could not see the difference were not able to answer those questions properly.

There is a question about the position of negative advertising and whether it should be a part of political campaigns and the position of negative advertising in relation to positive political advertising. From 72 respondents, 71 answered the question and only one participant skipped it. However, the highest number (30 respondents, 42%) answered that negative political advertising should be a part of campaigning to the same extent as positive political advertising. 18 participants (25%) suggested that it should be a part of political campaigning, but to a lesser degree than positive advertising. This was also suggested by Lucia Nicholsonova (personal communication, March 7, 2016) who thinks that each political campaign needs negative advertising but to a lesser extent than the positive one. 17 participants did not agree and thought that negative advertising should be omitted from political campaigning and only 6 participants thought that negative political advertising should be used more than positive advertising in political campaigns.

Since many people suggested that negative political advertising should be a part of political campaigning, another question was about whether participants think that negative advertising is a useful and ethical tool in political campaigning. 72% of respondents agreed that negative political advertising is a useful but unethical tool in political campaigning and 15% suggested that it is both useful and ethical. Less than 25% participants then thought that negative advertising is useless.

When it comes to the impact of negative advertising on people’s voting behavior, the responses were interesting. More than a half of the respondents (56%) chose the option that they voted for the candidate they wanted to vote for regardless of the campaign.

15% of respondents changed their mind and voting preference, 11% changed their mind but still voted for the same candidate. Negative political advertising had an impact on

elections in general, 6% of the respondents did not intend to vote but the negative campaign caused that they did vote while 4% wanted to vote but the negative campaign caused that they did not; 8% of respondents ticked the option ‘other’. This suggests that that people could be divided into two groups: those who pay attention to negative political advertising but it does not affect their behavior and those who are influenced by advertising because it can change their voting behavior, opinion or views on the elections in general. In other words, negative advertising can attract but also deter the voters. The campaigning can either discourage or mobilize them.

VI. V. Gender differences among the sample

As mentioned above, the survey included 72 respondents, of which 53% were women and 47% were men. According to the results, the frequency of paying attention to the political advertising differs among genders. Half of female participants pay attention to political advertising only in the case if something interesting happened, for example, an increase in media coverage or scandals. This phenomenon can be seen among male participants, where 36% reported that they also pay attention to political advertising for the same reasons as mentioned above. However, 35% of male participants pay attention to political advertising on a regular basis to keep them informed. Thus, it seems that women are predominantly focused on special social events and media coverage while men perceive political advertising as a common activity and watch it on a regular basis.

According to negative political advertising and its impact on voters’ behavior, a majority (55%) of female respondents suggested that this type of political advertising does not have an impact on their behavior and voting preferences, compared to men (65%), where negative political advertising has an impact on their voting behavior.

In relationship to negative political advertising and its position vis-à-vis positive political advertising in political campaigns, 50% of male participants suggested that ‘negative advertising’ should be on par with ‘positive advertising’ in political campaigns. Female participants could be divided into thirds: one-third thinks they should be on par, one- third thinks ‘negative’ should be used to a lesser extent than ‘positive’, and one-third believes that negative political advertising should not be a part of political campaigning at all. It can be said that women do not have a fixed opinion on the use of negative political advertising and its position vis-à-vis positive advertising, but a vast majority of them suggested that negative political advertising should be used less than positive or should not be used at all. Thus, their opinion on negative political advertising is more negative than positive.

According to the findings described above, there are some differences between men and women regarding negative political advertising. Due to the fact that male respondents tend to pay attention to political advertising more frequently, it should have an impact on their future voting behavior. In contrast, women pay attention to it only if something noteworthy appears and their behavior is not influenced that much. However, regardless of the gender split, a vast majority of participants suggest that negative political advertising is useful and has an impact on the results, but, at the same time, it is an unethical tool. It is obvious that people recognize that negative political advertising works, alt- hough its ethical dimension should be discussed.

VI. VI. Discussion

Due the fact that this research was done within two days, the research sample was lim- ited. However, it still shows certain differences in the Slovak population. It provides a basic overview of the knowledge and acceptance of negative political advertising in

Slovakia. The explanation of the terms used in the survey, such as political advertising, negative political advertising, and positive political advertising, could have had an impact on the results. In other words, had they not been explained in detail, the respondents would probably not have understood the concept of political advertising and the differences involved.

However, 72 participants with the different demographic backgrounds provided a basic overview of the awareness of political advertising in Slovakia. People know what it means and how it works in general. They can recognize that not everything that is powerful is also ethical. The respondents knew and could recall how negative political advertising changed their voting behaviors. The research findings presented different acceptance and forms of voting behavior according to this issue.

For the purposes of this paper, this empirical study might suggest that people in Slo- vakia are concerned about the negative advertising and its power. Negative political advertising has an impact on voter's behavior and it can change their perception and actions.

VII. Conclusion

Political advertising is the most visible tool for politicians to present their ideas and persuade voters. In today’s society, one of the most effective parts of this type of advertis-

ing is the negative advertising, which allows voters to be more involved not only physi- cally (actions), but also emotionally, with the decision they must make. Negative advertising could be divided into different tools. These tools and also the usage of different channels might have changed by the awareness and engagement of voters. However, the purpose of this type of advertising is not only increasing someone's number of voters but also to damage the reputation of opponents.

This paper has analyzed the different forms of negative political advertising as well as its impact on the society, as examined in different cases from two countries, Slovakia and the USA. As it has been mentioned before, negative advertising is a useful and effective tool for political figures and their campaigns. The empirical study suggested that people are fully aware of this type of advertising and consider it as a useful, but an unethical tool. Negative advertising, as a part of political communication, works, but it should be a part of the whole campaign and not the only part of the campaign.

According to the interviews as well as empirical study, the presence of negative advertising is visible. It has increased its popularity and became a powerful tool in political communication. However, it has started also to rasie many concerns such as ethical questions regarding information used in this type of advertising. Negative advertising also deals with transparency and reliability of the information provided. Many politicians were debating issues, which were not important for the campaign, but ruined opponents image. Voters then should pay close attention and think about the information, whether is trustworthy or not.

According to future of this field, it is possible to assume that negative advertising will be a part of political campaigns. However, it will be done in the form of scandals or attacks and will not be related to politics at all. It is possible to suggest that this type of advertising will be used more than it is used nowadays, but people will pay less attention to it because a higher number of cases may provide a better understanding of consumers who might have become desensitized.

Appendix:

Empirical study results:

During political campaigns, I pay attention to political advertisements

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Always Sometimes Only if the topic I do not pay attention interests me to political advertising at all

Results of the question: During political campaigns, I pay attention to political advertisement.

I see negative political advertising as

80% 72% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 15% 11% 10% 1% 0% useful and ethical useful and unethical useless and ethical useless and unethical tool tool tool tool

Results of the question: I see negative political advertising as.

Have you been affected by political advertising in the past?

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes, I changed Yes, I changed No, I voted for I did not want I wanted to go Other opinion as my opinion, the same to go to the to vote, but well as vote but did not candidate afte election, but after the preference change my the political after the campaign I did vote campaign campaign I not go preference went

Results of the question: Have you been affected by political advertising in the past?

During the political campaigns I am interested in

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Positive Advertising Negative Advertising Advertising in I do not pay attention general (postive + to the political negative) campaigns

Results of the question: During the political campaigns, I am interested in:

Negative advertising should:

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 be a part of political be a part of political be a part of political not be a part of communication, even communication, in communication, but political more than positive the same amount as less than positive communication advertising positive advertising advertising

Results of the question: Negative advertising should:

Gender

Men Women

47% 53%

Gender division of participants of the empirical study.

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