Political communication in a regressed democracy: An analysis of political party advertising campaigns in Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised election

Abstract

Tendai Chari employs the functional analysis approach to examine adverts for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the harmonised 2008 election campaigns. Six purposively selected political adverts published in the state-owned newspaper, The Herald are discursively analysed. Chari argues that the two rival political parties employed multi-dimensional functions of political advertising, encompassing acclaim, attack and to a lesser extent, defensive advertising to appeal for votes from the electorate. Chari further argues that the parties mobilised different discursive strategies to appeal to the electorate, with the incumbent party pleading for continuity while the opposition advocated change. He concludes that the preponderance of negativity in the campaign reflects the convergence of global and local forces in a regressed democracy.