Wolves at the Door: Musical persuasion in a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement
Many journalists and scholars overlook the discursive role of music in TV political advertisements. But we argue that music is a potent means of political persuasion. Music in advertisements is determinative; all other elements—images, voiceovers, sound effects, written text, and so on—are circumscr...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Sammenslutningen af Medieforskere i Danmark (SMID)
2011-06-01
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| Series: | MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://tidsskrift.dk/mediekultur/article/view/2857 |
| Summary: | Many journalists and scholars overlook the discursive role of music in TV political advertisements. But we argue that music is a potent means of political persuasion. Music in advertisements is determinative; all other elements—images, voiceovers, sound effects, written text, and so on—are circumscribed by the music and interpreted in relation to it. Music determines an advertisement’s character through framing and underscoring; musical frames establish interpretative categories and generate expectations, while underscoring comprises music that closely coordinates with images and voiceovers to form a persuasive aesthetic and rhetorical unity. A close reading of a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement applies this theory of frames and underscoring to explain the advertisement’s effectiveness. Without music, the advertisement would not only fail to persuade, it would also make no sense. |
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| ISSN: | 0900-9671 1901-9726 |