Open AccessWolves at the Door: Musical persuasion in a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement
Author(s) -
Matthew A. Killmeier,
Paul Christiansen
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
mediekultur
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1901-9726
pISSN - 0900-9671
DOI - 10.7146/mediekultur.v27i50.2857
Subject(s) - advertising , persuasion , musical , rhetorical question , popular music , framing (construction) , politics , aesthetics , psychology , literature , art , social psychology , political science , history , law , archaeology , business
Many journalists and scholars overlook the discursive role of music in TV political advertisements. But we argue that music is a potent means of political persuasion. Music in advertisements is determinative; all other elements—images, voiceovers, sound effects, written text, and so on—are circumscribed by the music and interpreted in relation to it. Music determines an advertisement’s character through framing and underscoring; musical frames establish interpretative categories and generate expectations, while underscoring comprises music that closely coordinates with images and voiceovers to form a persuasive aesthetic and rhetorical unity. A close reading of a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement applies this theory of frames and underscoring to explain the advertisement’s effectiveness. Without music, the advertisement would not only fail to persuade, it would also make no sense