celebrity and politics. the case of televised political advertising in poland

Celebrity and politics

olczyk.t@gmail.com

dr Tomasz Olczyk

the case of televised political advertising in Poland

celebritypolitics

celebrity politics

celebritization of politicians

politicization of celebrities

politics

celebrity

„Boorstin’s trap”

celebrity politics is relatively recent development

basic common premises

celebritization is on the rise

celebritization diminishes democracy

„small n studies”

methodological shortcomings

anecdotal evidence

narrow timespan

I also felt into this trap...

Olczyk T., 2009, Politainment and pop-persuasion. Televised political ads in 21 century campaigns

celebrity politics is relatively recent development

celebritization is on the rise

1990 2000 2015

presidential

european parliament

parliamentary

parliamentary

qualitative analysis from 2009

1990 2000 2015

presidential

european parliament

parliamentary

parliamentary

widening time frame of analysis

campaigns analysed in this study

1990 2000 2015

presidential presidential

european parliament

european parliament

european parliament

parliamentary parliamentary

parliamentary

parliamentaryparliamentaryparliamentary

1990 2000 2015

presidential presidential

presidential

parliamentary

missing video recordings

1990 2000 2015

presidential presidential

european parliament

european parliament

european parliament

parliamentary parliamentary

parliamentary

parliamentaryparliamentaryparliamentary

presidential presidential

presidential

parliamentary

paid advertisements

short

few committees can afford them

expensive

small number

election committees broadcasts

longer

free

guaranteed to all committees

aired in special blocs in public tv during last two weeks of campaign

big number

election committee broadcast, Civic Platform, Parliament elections, 2005

paid political commercials within longer free programms

necessity of selection

up to 840 minutes of broadcats in public tv channels per campaign

~20 blocks per campaign

very low variety of content and form

117 advertisements

Sample

11 campaigns

first blocks of election committees broadcasts

average length of advertisement – 226 seconds

7 hours 22 minutes of video recordings

celebritiespoliticians

celebrity politics in political ads – main categories

intimization

endorsementscandidacy

United Poland, European Parliament elections, 2014

celebrity candidate

intimization

TAMS Analyzer

coding

retrieving

theory building

III gen CAQDAS

duration – time coding

0% 2,25% 4,5% 6,75% 9%

8,82%

3,26%

celebrity politics in tv ads

politicization of celebrities

celebritization of politicians

N=26521 seconds (total time of 117 ads)

celebrity politics in tv ads – parliamentary elections

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

1993 1997 2001 2005 2007 2011

celebritization of politicians politicization of celebrities

N=total time of first block of ads of each campaign

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2004 2009 2014

celebritization of politics politicization of celebrities

celebrity politics in tv ads – elections to European Parliament

N=total time of first block of ads of each campaign

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2005 2010

celebritization of politics politicization of celebrities

celebrity politics in tv ads – presidential campaigns

N=total time of first block of ads of each campaign

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

3,50%

56,99%

celebrity candidates vs other candidates

celebrity

noncelebrity

N=26521 seconds (total time of 117 ads)

0% 1,5% 3% 4,5% 6%

5,33%

3,76%

celebrity endorsements vs other endorsements

celebrity

other

N=26521 seconds (total time of 117 ads)

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

3,26%

57,23%

intimate presentation vs official presentation

intimate

official

N=26521 seconds (total time of 117 ads)

celebritiespoliticians

celebrity politics in political ads

intimization

endorsementscandidacy

different types of endorsements

But.. the devil is in the detail

many levels of intimization

big differences in relative celebrity of celebrities

diverse formats

CC BY NC 3.0

olczyk.t@gmail.com

dr Tomasz Olczyk

Institute of Applied Social Sciences

tomaszolczyk.wordpress.com

Warsaw University

Thank You!