The manipulation tactics behind campaign ads

Madyson Lewellyn

ml203417@ohio.edu

For hundreds of years, American citizens have been subjected to the manipulation that political propaganda entails. Tactics such as isolation, jingles and attack ads on opponents have all been utilized by candidates for a means of edging themselves into the minds of voters and into favoring position on the ballots. 

However in recent years, the strategies used to sway voters in a certain direction has only proliferated. Although political manipulation has been  implemented in campaigning across history, the impact grew in 2017 when The Guardian exposed evidence of Russian meddling and "hacking" in the 2016 presidential election. 

In his article, How Russia used social media to divide Americans, Tom McCarthy explains the deeply embedded manipulation and meddling in stating, "What has now been made clear is that Russian trolls and automated bots not only promoted pro-Donald Trump messaging, but also used social media to sow social divisions by stoking disagreements around a plethora of controversial topics such as immigration and Islamphobia." 

As social media continues to be further intertwined within our everyday lives, candidates have adopted new strategies to use our personal information and data for their own personal advantage in elections. In the article, Mind Games, Sue Halpern explores how campaigns use marketing, manipulation and psychographic targeting with the ultimate means of winning.

Halpern exposes one of the most recent tactics used in manipulated political campaigns, psychographics. She explains, "Cambridge Analytica had used information to identify Americans' subconscious biases and craft political messages designed to  trigger their anxieties and influence their political decisions."  The tactic was used in 2016 by Trump, when his team hired Cambridge Analytica to purchase Facebook user data. 

Picture source: www.thequotes.in

Just this week, a recent Trump campaign ad has been under fire for taking a dated quote from Dr. Fauci out of context, also known as "isolation." The 30 second ad features Trump leaving the Walter Reed Military Medical Center after being treated from COVID-19 and flashing to a quote from Fauci stating "I can't imagine that anyone could be doing more." 

Not only did Fauci never give consent to being featured in the ad, but further states "my comments were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of public health officials." 

It's only become clear the political manipulation will continue to infiltrate our lives at every angle. The only thing left to do is never turn a blind eye when listening to campaigns and be aware of the tactics that are being used against us.