World Political Science Review Volume 7, Issue 1 2011 Article 5 Candidate Choice in Political Advertising: What Determines Who Gets Attention? Jonas Lefevere∗ Regis´ Dandoyy ∗University of Antwerp, Belgium,
[email protected] yUniversite´ Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,
[email protected] Originally published as Jonas Lefevere & Regis´ Dandoy (2010). Kandidaatkeuze in advertenties. Wat bepaalt wie aandacht krijgt? In: Res Publica vol. 52, nr. 3: 335-352. Reprinted with permission from Res Publica. Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press. Candidate Choice in Political Advertising: What Determines Who Gets Attention? Jonas Lefevere and Regis´ Dandoy Abstract In the run up to the elections, parties have several ways of communicating with voters. In this article, we focus on one piece of the puzzle: advertisements of political parties in the mass media. More specifically, we are interested in the choice of candidates within these advertisements. In countries where parties are the dominant actor, they are faced with a choice: not all candidates can be promoted in the campaign, as this would be too costly and inefficient. Thus, the first ques- tion we want to answer is which factors determine candidate choice in political advertisements? Secondly, does candidate choice in political advertisements have an effect on the subsequent cov- erage in media as well? Agenda setting research has shown that as far as issues are concerned, advertisements do set the media agenda. We use a content analysis of seven magazines and news- papers that was collected in the run up to the 2009 regional elections in Flanders, the largest region of Belgium. The results indicate that both internal party hierarchy, as well as external visibility of candidates determines candidate choice in political advertisements.