Political Spot Advertising:A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the 1996 Presidential Campaigns in Taiwan and the U.S.

Abstract

By conducting a content analysis, 606 political spots associated with the 1996-2004 presidential campaigns in Taiwan and the US are compared in an effort to explore how cultural differences may influence creative strategies within a venue of negative political advertising. The results demonstrate Taiwanese and American presidential hopefuls are “more different than alike” in their ads with respect to the use of negative appeals, types of negativity, and negative production techniques. The implication is that despite similar democratic political systems, cultural differences play an important and striking role in the practice of indigenous political spot advertising. Political spots are generally reflective of the cultural orientations in which they occur. Purpose and Significance Creative strategy is a policy or guiding principle that specifies the general nature and character of messages to be designed in advertisements (Frazer, 1983). As the heart of great advertising, a creative strategy mirrors important cultural meanings. Since content (what is said) and execution (how it is said) are the two key elements of creative strategy (Laskey, Day, & Crask, 1989), the primary concern of this comparative research project lies in the cultural aspects of message content and message execution in negative political advertising in two different cultures. The goal is to analyze and compare Taiwanese and American ads in an effort to explore how cultural differences influence negative advertising. In this study, the researcher will present a way of looking at communication by analyzing the assumptions in Taiwanese culture, and comparing them with the cultural assumptions underlying their U.S. counterparts. More specifically, this study will examine the usage of negative political spots from the 1996-2004 Taiwanese and American presidential campaigns in order to compare the cultural aspects depicted in each. Research significance hinges on two considerations. First, the findings eventually reported here may better and further establish the notion that political advertising reflects the uniqueness of an indigenous culture in which it appears, as business advertising does. Second, by conducting a study of comparative political advertising, it is possible to extend the scope of our understandings about advertising research in the political field. Such an inquiry is meaningful for both academic and practical reasons. Why Compare Taiwan with the U.S.? This research contrasts Taiwan with the U.S. for several reasons. Most important, the United States is regarded as the leading Western culture, and Taiwan can serve as a solid representative of Eastern culture. In fact, the bulk of the comparative studies of cultural 65