Negative Effects Of Negative Advertising

Negative attacks are latent with risk. When attacking an opponent a candidate risks appearing petulant, alienating voters and potential backlash. Occasionally, negative television advertising has had resulted in the opposite of their intended effects, as the sponsor was harmed more than the target (Haddock & Zanna, 1997). However, the most common result of negative television advertising is a denigrated perception of both the candidate responsible for the negative advertisement as well as the advertisement’s target (Merritt, 1984). Since the employment of attack advertisements carries such an onerous risk, a campaign should only be expected to do so when the expected strategic value is carefully considered “The decision to attack is a political

In one study, the researchers revealed that there were no detrimental effects to democracy resulting from the use of negative advertising (Lau et al., 1999). Contradictory, other research has revealed the opposite; that negative advertising leads to alienation and demobilization of voters (Ansolabehere et al., 1999). While the effects on voting and democracy are less clear, other research has revealed that negative television advertising leads to polarization, which is an important finding for the political system more generally (Garramoe et al.,

There exist numerous differences between television and social media. Social media, unlike television, reaches a vastly different audience and appeals to a different demographic entirely. While nearly two-thirds of American adults use social media, the majority of social media users are segmented in the young adult (18yr. - 29yr) section (Perrin, 2015). Further, unlike television or print advertisements, social media posts only immediately reach those who opt into receiving messages from their respective campaigns. As a result, a campaign’s use of social media may be an even more effective mechanism for reinforcing campaign messages and support for a given candidate. After all, one of the main effects of advertising, in general, is that instead of altering people’s opinions, advertisements generally serve to reinforce an audience member’s presuppositions (Iyengar & Simon,