Abstract
This research focuses on an analysis of the visual rhetoric and image management of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Instagram photographs. As Instagram has grown in popularity, politicians and celebrities alike have harnessed the platform to convey their stories, brands, and messages to audiences, thereby curating and controlling the images presented to a wider audience. In Trudeau’s case, Instagram is employed as a strategic tool for image management. The literature review draws from key relevant subject areas: visual rhetoric and rhetorical studies, research on Instagram, political communication, and visual methodologies. Drawing on key elements from Hill (2006), Filimonov et al. (2016), and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (Harrison, 2003) research, research questions focused on examining the use emotional appeals, image management strategies, and how Trudeau engages his audience. This research investigates how Trudeau’s image is crafted using visual rhetoric and image management in his Instagram photos through a content analysis. The project involved coding fifty of Trudeau’s Instagram images—through content analysis—systematically from October 19, 2015-March 2, 2017. Examining these images provides insight into the rhetoric and image management constructed through the visual images Trudeau presents on Instagram. Findings reveal that emotional appeals are a prominent factor in the images, that Instagram is used as a strategic tool for image management, and that Trudeau’s images engage his audience by balancing personalization and professionalism while inviting users in on private personal and professional moments. This research highlights key techniques in strategic political communications with key tools for image management and building visual rhetoric through visual means on social media. The methods explored in this research can inform professional communicators’ decisions regarding the images posted to social media (and Instagram in particular) and their content, their captions, and how they work to construct a narrative on social media that aligns with offline communications goals.
Highlights
In an age of ubiquitous social media, the role of photo management and rhetoric in the lives of public figures has increased as their public visibility has become more pronounced
Rhetorician Bruce Gronbeck (2008) has noted that the realism of the photographic image in combination with journalism resulted in a “potent rhetorical combination”—the sense that photographic images are “materially or experientially grounded [make] them feel like transparent windows on the world” (p. xxiii)
It inquires as to whether emotive photos and captions are more popular in the form of “likes.” The use of emotional appeals in imagery has long been a part of politics, and creating persuasive messages may involve the use of emotional appeals to help achieve communications goals (Hill, 2006; Gronbeck, 2008)
Summary
In an age of ubiquitous social media, the role of photo management and rhetoric in the lives of public figures has increased as their public visibility has become more pronounced. As writer Eric Andrew-Gee (2016) notes in The Globe and Mail, the growing ubiquity of both social and news media has meant that politicians in particular—in combination with increasingly sophisticated political strategy—are in a constant state of electioneering. In this role, politicians continuously craft and maintain key messages that promote their values and policies. As Instagram has grown in popularity, politicians and celebrities alike have harnessed the platform to convey their stories, brands, and messages to audiences It is a medium through which public figures can curate and control the image presented to a wider audience through their mobile devices, carefully crafting a visual rhetoric suited to their brands and communications strategies. The celebrity-like popularity of Trudeau and “the personality cult” speak to the “choreographed way [he] rose to power” (Rodrick, 2017)
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