Do Online Ads Influence Vote Choice?

Abstract

Berlin state election, 189 postal districts were randomly assigned to (a) emotional ads; (b) factual ads; or (c) no ads. Analyzing electoral results at the postal district level, we find that the overall campaign weakly increased the party's vote share by 0.7 percentage points (p-value = 0.155). We also estimate a negative effect of the campaign on the vote share of the party's main competitors of 1.4 percentage points (p-value = 0.094). Turning to the mechanism of persuasion, we find that the factual ads, if anything, fared slightly better than the emotional ads. Our evidence thus provides tentative support that online ads positively affect vote choice.

Fighting biased news diets: Using news media literacy interventions to stimulate online cross-cutting media exposure patterns

“…Dobber et al, 2019;Haenschen and Jennings, 2019;Hager, 2019). More specifically, it has been argued that targeted or tailored messages, such as Internet ads, can boost turnout (Haenschen and Jennings, 2019) or even affect vote choice (Hager, 2019). In line with recent developments in micro-targeting, tailored NML messages may be most effective when analytics are used to correctly identify audience segments that feel addressed by the interventions-which is already technically possible in an online context (e.g.…”

“…The potential effectiveness of messages that aim to overcome cognitive dissonance by cultivating closeness to partisans' political identity or issue attitudes can also be based on (micro)targeting research (e.g. Dobber et al, 2019;Haenschen and Jennings, 2019;Hager, 2019). More specifically, it has been argued that targeted or tailored messages, such as Internet ads, can boost turnout (Haenschen and Jennings, 2019) or even affect vote choice (Hager, 2019).…”

Putting your best pet forward: Language patterns of persuasion in online pet advertisements

“…Central and peripheral processing effects have been extended to many online settings (e.g., Allison, Davis, Webb, & Short, ; Cyr, Head, Lim, & Stibe, ; Goh & Chi, ), suggesting that persuasion represents a rich psychological phenomenon that spans communication media. For example, Hager () measured how factual or emotional German political advertisements distributed on Facebook and Google affected vote choice. Consistent with the idea that factual ads require more elaboration than emotional ads, which may encourage peripheral processing (e.g., making quick judgments about the source), Hager () observed that factual online ads helped to raise vote share better than emotional online ads.…”

“…For example, Hager () measured how factual or emotional German political advertisements distributed on Facebook and Google affected vote choice. Consistent with the idea that factual ads require more elaboration than emotional ads, which may encourage peripheral processing (e.g., making quick judgments about the source), Hager () observed that factual online ads helped to raise vote share better than emotional online ads. In another study, Cao, Liu, Zhu, Hu, and Chen () measured how people make decisions about their doctors from online information in China.…”

Partisan self-interest is an important driver for people’s support for the regulation of targeted political advertising

“…Individual-level voter targeting based on data from state-wide voter registries merged with different kinds of public and commercial data has become a widespread practice since the implementation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 [3,[5][6][7]. While early efforts of specific targeting largely relied on door-to-door canvassing, telephone calls, and direct mail, today, platforms like Facebook allow political actors to reach millions of users in a cost-effective way [3,4,8]. Thus, spending on online targeted political advertisements has tripled between the 2016 presidential election and the 2020 presidential election in the United States [9].…”