Emotionally manipulative advertisements a futile effort in political persuasion

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-01-13 16:00

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Poignant and enraging advertisements won’t change people’s politics but they will ensure party loyalty, according to new research. Psychologists from Norway and Germany showed American participants eight short political ads from the 2018 election. The ads were all designed to ‘move’ or anger the viewer, but they only had the desired effect if the viewer already aligned themself with the party that produced the video. The authors suggest that emotionally manipulative political ads are most effective in ensuring that supporters will vote, recommend the party to others, or donate money to the party, rather than changing people's political affiliations.