Theoretical perspectives on visual political communication through election posters

Abstract

While posters have always been a medium of "flash communication" transferring textually and/or pictorially highly condensed information, and actualizing political issues and actors, they provide a vivid insight into historical as well as contemporary political culture and communication and their potential effects on audiences. Though, systematically analyzing and evaluating election posters should be informed by a profound theoretical grounding. Understanding the election poster as a specific, well-established medium of visual political communication, this chapter provides an overview of central theoretical approaches that can fruitfully be applied to the understanding and examination of election posters. Ranging from (1) historical/art historical, (2) political, (3) critical as well as (4) sociopsychological approaches to a (5) media-effect perspective, the latter chapter outlines a theoretical model for empirically analyzing the reception of visual political communication through election posters, translating central steps during poster perception, processing, and evaluation into a practical research framework.