Professor, students say voters affected by campaign material design

Whether walking to class or driving to work, chances are students are bombarded with election signs, posters, pamphlets and an assortment of other election-related materials.

Are the designers who make them wasting their time, or do these campaign designs really have an effect on voting?

“One thing psychological research has shown is that images, even when presented subliminally, can have profound impact on people’s judgments and evaluations,” said psychology professor Edward Hirt. “However, one must consider the strength of the associations that people have with those different images to be able to assess its likely role.”

Hirt said students should take into consideration the potential emotional and mental factors that could come into play when met with an image.

“Do you have strong affective or emotional reactions to those images?” he asked. “What thoughts or stereotypes are evoked by those images? These are the kinds of factors that will influence their effects.”

Senior Anna Strand, president of IU College Democrats, said the artwork of campaign materials is essential.

“I think that campaign art, as part of a candidate’s entire message strategy, influences voters,” she said. “In this election cycle, our materials have been provided by the campaigns, and they are of superior quality, many made specifically for college campuses.”

Strand said Obama’s campaign art is “creative and aesthetically pleasing,” and said she thinks it reaches a wide audience.

“They are tuned to different audiences, so there are logos and posters for students, farmers and environmentalists,” she said. “How campaign artwork looks is part of the overall campaign, and people respond to it as part of the candidate’s image.”
Chelsea Kane, chairwoman of IU College Republicans, said she thinks an image can have an effect on the election.

“It absolutely can,” she said. “The most perfect example I can think of on the Republican side of things is the Barack Obama image that is extremely reminiscent of the pose of Che Guevara. It’s extremely similar, and it’s weird. That is a very interesting way to present yourself. To present Barack Obama as mirroring that image is very strange.”

Kane, who worked on Gov. Mitch Daniels’ campaign for two years, said she understands the purpose of campaign art is to create an iconic image that will stick in people’s heads and create a persona of that candidate.

“With John McCain, it tries to call to mind that he’s a real American, and he’s steadfast,” she said. “With Obama’s, they are very crisp and clean, and they are very modern. There is a contrast, and they both convey different things.”

Strand said Obama’s artwork is forward-thinking and responsive to the audience, whereas McCain’s artwork is less appealing.

“McCain’s campaign artwork looks like a retread of so much we have seen in the past – much like his policy and campaign,” she said.

Kane said Daniels’ campaign artwork is a success.

“Mitch Daniels’ campaign is leaps and bounds ahead of every gubernatorial campaign in the country,” she said. “When you see someone in Indiana with a green T-shirt on, you know that’s Mitch Daniels. It’s not a pre-packed image. It’s very distinct.”

While Strand admits Daniels’ green artwork has been successful, she said Jill Long Thompson’s blue campaign art is better.

“Thompson’s blue is there to represent what color we want to turn the Hoosier state,” she said.

Hirt said he thinks even seemingly miniscule details such as colors of campaign artwork can ultimately play a role.

“If it determines what kinds of thoughts and associations we have, then it can definitely make a difference,” he said. “Colors evoke different associations, and certainly images that conjure up concerns about the economy, the war and stereotypes of Muslims and African-Americans or patriotic images like the flag all affect us.”

Though image shouldn’t be the determining factor, mental associations can be hard to shake.

“Other things can potentially counteract their effects, but if they powerfully evoke emotional feelings, they can play a very important role,” Hirt said. “It is difficult to overcome strong emotional associations that we have to images and the people or candidates we associate with those images.”

While some campaign slogans are more blatant than others, Hirt said he thinks they work best when they touch the subconscious.

“You don’t have to be aware of its influence for it to affect you,” he said. “Indeed, they work best if you are unaware.”