Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements
during the pandemic
Política, miedo y persuasión: análisis de anuncios institucionales en tiempos de
pandemia
doxa.comunicación |
nº 39, pp. 37-59
| 37
July-December of 2024
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
How to cite this article:
Orbegozo Terradillos, J. and San Martín Epalza, O. (2024). Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the
pandemic.
Doxa Comunicación
, 39, pp. 37-59.
https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n39a2006
Julen Orbegozo Terradillos.
With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations,
he currently teaches in the Department of Audio-visual Communication, as well as that of Advertising and Public
Relations, at the University of the Basque Country. He also imparts courses in Public Communication Management,
Interpersonal Communication, and New Trends in Communication to students working toward a Bachelor’s Degree in
the following disciplines: Journalism; Advertising and Public Relations; and Audio-visual Communication. Moreover,
he recently earned his PhD Cum Laude in Social Communication. His main line of research is Public Communication,
specically regarding issues of activism in social media, political communication from a gender perspective, electoral
campaigns, and more. Professor Orbegozo Terradillos has led several research projects that have been published in
high-impact journals and have addressed the following issues: electoral debates on television; the use of television in
electoral campaigns; feminist cyber activism; the impact of fake news on public opinion; the use of electoral narratives
from a gender perspective; and more. His experience as a researcher and lecturer is further reinforced by more than ten
years of experience in the business world, where he has worked as a communications advisor in the Parliament of the
Basque Autonomous Region, in addition to having participated in numerous electoral campaigns in both the Basque
Region and at the national level as well. Moreover, he has regularly worked in collaboration with media outlets such as
EiTB
(television and radio),
Naiz
,
Berria
,
Público
,
Infolibre
,
e Conversation
, and others.
University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID:
0000-0002-2959-4397
Oier San Martín Epalza.
With a sound academic background in the eld of Communication and Digital Marketing,
this author has a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of the Basque Country
(
UPV/EHU
), which included a major in Communications Management. He also has two Master´s Degrees, one in
Organisational Communication from Complutense University of Madrid (
UCM
), and the other in Digital Marketing
from Mondragon Unibertsitatea (
MU
). His main line of research focuses on persuasive and emotional communication
in political campaigns and advertising ventures, as well as issues related to digital marketing. Moreover, he has worked
in the communications oces of both public and private institutions, including the University of the Basque Country
(
UPV/EHU
), as well as
Red.es
, under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Aairs and Digital Transformation. In
addition, he has worked in collaboration with various agencies that specialise in digital marketing.
University Complutense of Madrid, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID:
0000-0002-8071-004X
is content is published under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. International License CC BY-NC 4.0
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
1. Introduction
e COVID-19 pandemic required an unprecedented communication eort from governments and public institutions, as they
were faced with one of the biggest health crises in contemporary history, which led to accelerated changes in many aspects of
life (Puebla-Martínez and Vinader-Segura, 2021). As the media was confronted with a worldwide drama, an uncertain situation,
and a bleak outlook (Castañeda and Ramos, 2020), a fundamental role was given to crisis communication and public relations
in connecting the three actors who interact in the public and political realm: the media ecosystem; political institutions; and
citizens (Wolton, 1991; Castillo, Moreno and Capriotti, 2020).
ere were three main areas where public communication played a key role in the complex and hybrid communicative
ecosystem (Chadwick, 2013): explaining what was happening in relation to an event that was unknown to the public;
disseminating educational information to prevent new infections; and persuading the audience to make certain changes in
attitude towards complying with the new and extraordinary social and health measures, such as the need to reduce social
contact and strictly obey the rules of connement.
Given this situation regarding health, politics, and society, the present research focuses on the institutional advertisements
broadcast during the pandemic. It also starts from the premise that spreading fear was one of the general approaches taken
by the media and politicians during the crisis phase of the pandemic (Moreno, Contreras and Román, 2021; Orbegozo and
González-Abrisketa, 2021).
Received: 30/05/2023 - Accepted: 09/01/2024 - Early access: 26/02/2024 - Published: 01/07/2024
Recibido: 30/05/2024 - Aceptado: 09/01/2024 - En edición: 26/02/2024 - Publicado: 01/07/2024
Abstract:
is research examines institutional advertisements disseminated
during the COVID-19 pandemic for the purpose of obtaining and
analysing the main features of the spots, which were combined in
order to create a symbology of fear. A mixed approach involving
content and discourse analysis has been used, in which a total of 19
advertisements were selected and decoded based on their metadata,
explicit content or formal features, framing, and advertising
objectives. More than half of the spots use fear as a persuasive
factor, and concern is instilled by incorporating common features of
aesthetics and symbolism in terms of form, content, and expressive
resources. is study clearly demonstrates that due to the absence
of other frameworks, fear was used as the preferred emotion for
engaging in political persuasion during the pandemic, and that
a climate of fear was created by using combined features aimed at
spreading thanatophobia, or the fear of disease.
Keywords
:
Political communication, crisis communication, COVID-19,
institutional advertisements, persuasion.
Resumen:
Esta investigación analiza los spots institucionales durante la pande
-
mia de COVID-19, obteniendo y examinando los principales elementos
que conuyeron para construir una simbología del miedo. Se emplea un
enfoque que combina el análisis de contenido y el análisis del discurso.
Se seleccionan 19 anuncios y se decodican en función de sus metada
-
tos, su contenido explícito o sus elementos formales, su marco o framing
y sus objetivos publicitarios. Más de la mitad de los spots emplean el
miedo como herramienta persuasiva y el temor es infundido por ele
-
mentos estéticos y simbólicos comunes en cuanto a la forma, al fondo y
a los recursos expresivos. Se demuestra que, en ausencia de otros mar
-
cos, el miedo tuvo un lugar predilecto como emoción empleada para
la persuasión política durante la pandemia y que dicha atmósfera de
temor fue construida con elementos compartidos orientados a expandir
la tanatofobia o el temor a la enfermedad.
Palabras clave:
Comunicación política, comunicación de crisis, COVID-19, anuncios
institucionales, persuasión.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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Specically, an analysis was made of the symbolic construction of fear in the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain through the
institutional communication of autonomous regional governments, as well as the adverts they broadcast during the rst
waves of the pandemic. As such, this study has obtained and contextualised the components that were used to develop the
aforementioned semiotics of fear. is research is clearly justied by the fact that although fear has been used in other political
and social contexts, an unprecedented state of fear and anxiety was generated during the pandemic (Torrente et al., 2020), due
to
infoxication
and the proliferation of fake news (O’Connor and Murphy, 2020), as well as the high-impact messages used by
public institutions themselves to make certain requests of the public and explain the development of the health crisis.
1.1. e politics of fear and persuasion
Fear is an instrument that instinctively puts people on guard against the possibility of change (Punset, 2008), which has been
present in all cultures and eras in which human beings have inhabited the earth (Korstanje, 2010). Vicente Domínguez (2003,
p. 666) denes it as an emotion that is “more or less transient, which appears when a danger that is real, apparent, specic, or
unspecied is perceived or presumed, and which can be felt individually or collectively”. On the other hand, Vera-García (2015,
p. 35) limits its denition to the following: “an emotional reaction to a danger recognised as such in a conscious state of mind”.
Numerous studies have tried to explain the eect of using fear on human attitude and behaviour (Rodríguez-Andrés, 2011).
e main studies on this issue were carried out in the 20th century, and in the 1990s Kim Witte (1992, 1994) developed a
synthesis method that focuses on determining the factors that make an appeal to fear eective and can be used to guide the
masses (Cárdenas and Lozano, 2020) and even control and discipline the members of a given society (Orbegozo and González-
Abrisketa, 2021).
Carlos Bührle (2004) brings us closer to one of the eminent philosophers who related fear to political power: omas Hobbes.
According to Bührle (2004, p. 10), “Hobbes knew that fear paralyses and makes one afraid”, and fear is “the most potent
and necessary political emotion, the great educator of an untamed and untrustworthy humanity”. Another classic author is
Montesquieu. Contrary to all of the foregoing reections, this philosopher developed theories regarding despotism as a type of
arbitrary government built on fear and mutual distrust (Keane, 2002).
In this regard, two of the modern authors who reect on the three-way relationship between legitimacy, fear, and power
are Corey Robin (2009) and Michel Foucault (2009). According to Robin, political fear builds a foundation that leads to the
domination of underlying controversies. Moreover, it is an “elite” instrument used to govern resistance arising in the social
sphere (Korstanie, 2010), given that the world is a theatre of every kind of danger, evil and threat (Boucheron and Robin, 2015).
Foucault (1991) identied an additional aspect in the relationship between fear and power in modern times. For the French
philosopher, the aforementioned emotion can be produced and reproduced by political agents of the government to establish
control and supervision, and to improve society in general (Debrix and Barder, 2009).
In contemporary terms, we might speak of the dual factor of fear-control regarding society. For Parra (2020), the model of
governance based on the use of fear for social control makes sense during catastrophes, crises, or collective disasters, with the
aim of guaranteeing peaceful co-existence. Nevertheless, social upheavals arising from multidimensional causes continue to
generate intense debate among jurists, philosophers, and social scientists. ese discussions range from libertarian positions
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that support civil disobedience and the right to resist oppression, to neoconservative perspectives that justify state violence in
specic circumstances as an undisputed means of upholding the system (Olha, et al., 2020).
In addition, there are several paradigmatic examples of the appeal to fear in the political sphere, such as the following: the 2005
UK general elections (Dean, 2005); the 2016 Colombian referendum on the peace accords (Cardona-Zulueta and Londóño-
Álvarez, 2018); and the rhetoric used by Donald Trump in the 2016 election campaign (Ayala-Sánchez, 2017). Other events
in recent history have also enabled the analysis of this phenomenon, which connects the generation of fear with political
persuasion, an example of which is the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11 (Van Der Pijl, 2016), or the Brexit vote in the United
Kingdom (Milam, 2016).
Specically, in the emerging eld risk communication during health crises, appeals to fear in certain contexts could be eective
in making citizens more receptive to the recommendations of public administrations (Altheide, 2010). However, there is an
ongoing debate between those who believe that fear acts as a motivator and encourages positive attitudinal changes, and those
who argue that the anxiety generated by such messages leads to denial and avoidance of the message (Ordoñana, Amor and
Olivares, 2000).
e fact is, the use of fear by institutions in times of health crises, such as the one addressed in this article, is nothing new. In
this regard, a long list of health crises prior to the COVID-19 pandemic could be cited, examples of which include the illness
caused by toxic canola oil (1981), mad cow disease (2000), the spread of Inuenza A (2011), and poisoning by the E. coli
bacteria (2011) (Rodríguez-Andrés, 2011; López-Villafranca, 2012).
1.2. Institutional advertising and the use/communicative value of spots
Institutional advertisements, or spots, which are used in various communication campaigns, belong to the eld of institutional
advertising (Santiago-Barnés, Ortega-Jarrín and Carpio-García, 2016). is phenomenon has been dened in various ways
throughout history (Feliu, 2009; Cortés, 2011). For Professor Elisa Moreu-Carbonell (2005), institutional advertising is a
public communication instrument focused on persuasion, generally one-directional, created by government administrations,
and aimed at the public. erefore, this type of communication transmits ideas rather than products, and is linked to the
educational and socialising role of the state.
According to the classication of issues related to institutional advertising, oered by Moragas (2005), the spots broadcast
during the COVID-19 pandemic by public administrations combined an overriding social function with the promotion of
safety and risk prevention. Feliu (2009) oers her own classication of institutional communication, taking the Infoadex
database as a starting point, and looking specically at the objectives of the campaigns. us, this author has identied four
types of institutional advertising:
1.
Corporative advertising: To provide information about programmes related to public policies, or to present projects or
the results of public management.
2.
Commercial advertising: To promote the consumption of specic products, attract foreign investment, and promote
tourism, among other objectives.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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3.
Political Advertising: To provide information about electoral campaigns.
4.
Social Advertising: To explain citizens’ rights and obligations, and to encourage change in certain habits.
Furthermore, advertisements are one of the most eective mechanisms with the greatest potential in the aforementioned
institutional campaigns, as they combine image, movement, light, and sound, and they do so in an aesthetic manner
(Martínez-Pastor and Vizcaíno-Laorga, 2008). In fact, image is one of the most appropriate communicative languages for
expressing suering and pain (Linde-Navas, 2005). On the other hand, it is also capable of generating emotion, beliefs, and
even a response from the one who views the images (Cardenas and Lozano, 2020). Moreover, they provide the receiver with
“the potential to generate new ways of understanding and making sense of events, reecting on them, and developing coping
strategies through the construction of new meanings and discourse” (Echeverry and Herrera, 2005, p. 141).
In general, the spots are approximately 25-30 seconds long (Baeza and Martín, 2019) and are perfectly adapted to the register
and language of television, although they are now disseminated through other communication channels such as social media.
e most important advantages of these adverts are the following: the broadcaster fully controls the focus and dissemination
of the message; these spots allow a combination of features such as image, sound, colour, visual eects, and special eects; and
nally, the messages are disseminated through mass media channels with the potential to reach large audiences (Santiago-
Barnés, Ortega-Jarrín and Carpio-García, 2016; Degrado, 2005).
1.3. Objectives, hypotheses, and research questions
e overall objective of this study is to analyse the use of fear and its importance in institutional communication, in addition to
its inuence as a persuasive resource and an emotion that was generated through advertising disseminated during the health
crisis in Spain (Objective 1). In this regard, the aim is to outline the symbolism of fear by describing the main components of
which it is comprised (Objective 2). e ultimate goal is to obtain information on the presence of fear in comparison with other
frameworks or emotional frames, as well as the aesthetic, formal, and symbolic components common to the spots that use fear,
and the metaphors with the greatest presence in the sample.
Consequently, this study is based on the following hypotheses:
H1: Fear is the most common emotion induced by the spots in the sample, and the messages revolve around this feeling. In
cases where it is not the main message, fear is present in most of the adverts, at least in a way that is secondary or implied.
H2: Fear is created through shared symbology in most of the adverts, through the use of oral, visual, symbolic, or
metaphorical elements.
2. Method
e main reference used for this research is the view set forth by Silvia Gutiérrez (2015), who has developed a crossover and
multidisciplinary outlook for the observation of institutional advertisements. Gutiérrez (2015) argues that electoral adverts,
which are closely related to institutional spots, should be examined from various perspectives:
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
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1.
Rhetorical-argumentative strategies, and argumentative resources (themes, ideas, etc.).
2.
Language used (register, expressive turns of phrase, etc.).
3.
Use of rhetorical devices (metaphor, comparison, repetition, use of irony, etc.).
4.
Type of enunciation (e.g. subjective attributes of the sender).
5.
Visual elements (e.g. visual metaphors).
6.
Sound elements (eects, music, etc.).
On the other hand, Rodríguez, Garrido, and Ramos (2009) carried out a research study with a pre-determined sample of 241
communicative pieces, 73 of which were issued by the Spanish Government, 147 by regional governments, and the rest by
municipal governments of Spanish capital cities. ese authors used a qualitative approach involving content analysis with an
ad-hoc strategy designed for the study, in which they focused on the following features:
1.
Objectives of the spot based on its message.
2.
Broadcaster identication and the use of voiceover.
3.
Tone of the advertising message.
4.
Identication of the issue addressed and classication of the receiver of the message.
Within this framework, the present study has been designed using a combined approach of content and discourse analysis
(Van Dick, 2016). e rst technique provides a more quantitative strategy, whereas the second takes a more interpretative
approach, which allows the messages to emerge in context. As content analysis is deductive by nature, this makes it possible to
scientically examine the meanings and signiers of any text; regarding discourse analysis, this tool is benecial for unmasking
the logic that operates beneath language (Vicente-Mariño, 2006).
In this regard, the following methodological process has been designed, which includes an initial phase of preliminary work
(Steps 1 to 4), a second phase of eldwork (Steps 5 and 6), and nally, a third phase of explanatory and interpretative work
(Steps 7 and 8), as follows:
1.
Dene and circumscribe the object of study.
2.
Dene the criteria of the sample and the timeframe.
3.
Search for adverts in dierent sources (institutional websites, social media channels such as YouTube or Twitter, etc.).
4.
Design the data collection sheet according to criteria that is specic and scientic.
5.
e research team will review and autonomously carry out the data collection.
6.
Compare coincidence and divergence in the decoding of the data.
7.
Achieve results according to predened criteria.
8.
Interpret and verify the ndings according to the hypotheses and objectives stated above.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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Moreover, a number of analytical criteria that are fundamental to the understanding of the study are as follows:
Firstly, the sample consisted of one advert per autonomous region or city (19 in total). As most of the autonomous regions
published more than one piece, the sample consisted of the advertisements of those autonomous regions with the highest
number of contagions and death, based on data from the Ministry of Health. e spot could have been broadcast directly
by one of the departments of the institutions concerned (regional ministries), or by public organisations such as health and
broadcasting services, and others. e search was carried out in the ocial archives of the institutional websites of the regional
governments using phrases such as “announcement”, “crisis”, “COVID-19”, etc. If this rst step did not yield enough data, a
manual search was carried out on social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Secondly, three sheets were used for the data collection: the rst was used to gather the “metadata” of each spot (autonomous
region, health wave referred to, broadcast date, slogan or hashtag used, broadcaster, governing party or parties, duration, and
link); the second sheet was used for information related to the content analysis (title of the campaign, gender of the people
starring in the advert, estimated age, location of the narrative, typology of the voiceover, brief description of the content, etc.);
the third sheet was used for the data that served as a guide in identifying the framework or emotional frame to which the spot
refers (type of target, most important frame, evoked emotions or frames that were secondary, etc.).
irdly, following the classication set forth by Hidalgo and Rodríguez (2013), four types of advertisements were selected
according to the type of aim in each case: Informative Adverts (to inform the audience in a way that is objective and non-
judgmental); Educational Adverts (to transmit new knowledge); Institutional Adverts (to promote a positive image of the
institution, its achievements, and successes); and Persuasive Adverts (to invite the audience to do something or to change
attitudes, using a persuasive approach.
Finally, following framing theory (Van Gorp, 2007; Muñiz, 2015), four broad frameworks or frames were dened, which had
already been identied in previous works linked to advertising or institutional communication, and suggested by studies
related to the COVID-19 pandemic itself (Orbegozo and González-Abrisketa, 2021; Sotelo-González, Díaz-Arias and López-
Frías, 2021): the frames include fear, responsibility/collaboration, hope, and other. e type of emotion suggested by each
frame was simplied by categorising fear as negative and hope as positive; with regard to the dual frame of responsibility/
collaboration, this is a neutral combination that depends on the context. Overall, it was especially useful for this study to nd
an antagonist emotion as powerful and negative as fear, in this case represented by hope.
Moreover, the very presence of the aforementioned frameworks in pandemic crisis communication was the subject of
reection in documents by public and non-prot institutions such as
la Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública
[the Andalusian
school of public health] (2020), the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (2020), and the
Department of Global Communication of the United Nations (2020). ese institutions highlighted the need to make greater
use of messages that encourage collective and individual responsibility, warning of the overuse of fear in messages, and they
suggested placing more emphasis on positive messages involving emotions such as hope as an alternative (Green et al., 2020;
March, 2020).
In the present study, each spot has been placed in a specic group based on its main narrative or audio-visual features as
follows:
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
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–
Fear: advertisements that focus their message on negative consequences of the pandemic and explicitly refer to aspects such
as death, illness, physical injury, etc.
–
Responsibility/Collaboration: adverts that explicitly or implicitly call on the audience to take measures or actions, either indi
-
vidually or collectively, to overcome the eects of the pandemic.
–
Hope: these spots talk positively about the future, conveying an optimistic and encouraging message, and their aim is to ge
-
nerate a feeling of hope and condence.
–
Other: this category includes any audio-visual piece that cannot be clearly placed into any of the previous groups.
2.1. Description of the sample
e sample is made up of 19 institutional advertisements: 17 from Regional Governments, and two from Autonomous Cities
(see Table 1). A total of 89.4% of the adverts pertain to the rst three waves of the pandemic (the most critical moments of the
pandemic in terms of infections and deaths), with only two spots that were broadcast outside this period.
Table 1. Sample metadata
Autonomous
Region
Wave
Publication
date
Title
Issuing Body
(Regional
Governments if not
otherwise stated)
Running
time
Link
Andalusia
3rd
22/01/21
#CumpleTuParte
Junta de Andalucía
0:45https://youtu.be/6wl54egQ9oM
Aragon1st18/03/20
Coronavirus
Gobierno de Aragón
0:19https://youtu.be/6cVrkwtgYvY
Principality of
Asturias
2nd20/11/20
Pîensa
Gobierno del
Principado de
Asturias
0:21https://youtu.be/8C1UQkkL4gc
Balearic Islands
2nd4/12/20
Salvem Vides
Govern Illes Balears
0:31https://youtu.be/Y-32HMDhZKE
Canary Islands
2nd13/08/20
La
última
copa
Gobierno de
Canarias
0:47https://youtu.be/bA9Pc9AzzKQ
Cantabria5th22/7/21
No te pierdas
nada
Gobierno de
Cantabria
0:39https://youtu.be/TNuhz99k5BI
Castilla-La
Mancha
2nd14/09/20
Quédate en casa
Departamento de
Educación
0:56https://youtu.be/GKJYnNKRK8YY
Castilla and
Leon
2nd20/09/20
Sabes cómo
evitarlo
Junta de Castilla y
León
0:44https://youtu.be/L4ZKCz4DJLI
Catalonia1st28/07/20
Qui ens havia
de dir
Generalitat de
Catalunya
0 :20https://youtu.be/v7GJNKvpLrk
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<p>[Enlace de URL / hc (has AS)]</p>
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<p>[Enlace de URL / hc (has AS)]</p>
<p>[Enlace de URL / hc (has AS)]</p>
<p>[Enlace de URL / hc (has AS)]</p>
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Valencian
Community
1st23/06/20
Si la lías, nos la
lías a todos
#AmbPrudencia
Generalitat
Valenciana
1:21https://youtu.be/u3x2N9E9Jks
Extremadura3rd11/01/21
#VueltaAlCole
con seguridad
Junta de
Extremadura
1:46https://youtu.be/yfjaVS6j21Y
Galicia1st20/5/20
Usa máscara
#Sentidiño
Xunta de Galicia
0:21https://youtu.be/sXk4wW2ioD4
La Rioja
1st13/4/20
La Rioja
Contrataca
Gobierno de La Rioja
2:17
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=UTFOFq7nLuY
Community of
Madrid
2nd17/11/20
#NoTeSaltes
LaVida
Gobierno de la
Comunidad de
Madrid
0:20https://youtu.be/-iec3mWybYM
Murcia2nd20/11/20
#LaMascarilla
Siempre
Gobierno de Murcia
0:21https://youtu.be/1KfCvyhOh0M
Navarre2nd22/12/20
Con tu
compromiso lo
conseguiremos
¡Vamos,
Aurrera!
Gobierno de
Navarria
0:30
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=AQlDiGtaIGU&fea-
ture=youtu.be
Euskadi2nd19/11/20
Manos,
mascarilla,
distancia
Gobierno Vasco
0:30https://youtu.be/FZsMYhrjLEY
Autonomous
City of Ceuta
3rd30/3/201
Nueva campaña
de….
City council and
RTVE
1:18https://youtu.be/WZX_ExUEAM0
Autonomous
City of Melilla
6th25/11/21
La Consejería de
Salud Pública…
Department of
health and Faro TV
1:17https://youtu.be/-51W-Pw_w4w
Source: prepared by the authors
Based on the information reected in the sample data, the following observations have been made:
–
Some key dates in the calendar regarding a sharp increase in social contact are especially relevant when broadcasting adver
-
tisements, including the following: Christmas, Easter, summer holidays, and the “back to school” period.
–
e length of the adverts varies, with an average of 49 seconds. More than half (10) are between 20 and 40 seconds. Only
5 spots are longer than one minute. e most common lengths are approximately 20 seconds (5 spots), and 30 seconds (3
spots). is last point is in line with the traditional lengths of television adverts, yet it contradicts the latest research on the
eect of advertising, which argues that communicative inputs longer than 20 seconds are more eective because they impro
-
ve the memorability of the brand and the message (Martín, Reinares and Reinares, 2016).
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46 |
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|
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
–
e longest advert (2’17”) is “
La Rioja Contrataca
”, which could be considered a specic example of the antithesis of using fear
in institutional advertising. e spot capitalises on the idea of hope by explicitly mentioning this feeling. e advert is narra
-
ted by children’s voices, and although it does not develop a story as such, as it shows a succession of healthcare and hospital
images, it places the story in delivery rooms, paediatric services, and geriatric settings, and it displays especially hopeful faces.
–
Among the titles of the adverts, what is striking is that the messages are short, forceful and assertive, with specic requests
and even orders (“Wear a mask”, “Stay at home”, etc.). In this way, the appellative or conative function of language (Grimaldi,
2009) is used, according to each institution’s aim of having their ideas accepted by the audience, which often involves changes
in their behaviour, attitudes, or rules. Likewise, implicit or explicit allusions are made to the feeling of loss, with slogans like
“Don’t miss anything”, “e last drink”, “Don’t skip life”, and “Save lives”.
–
In general, realistic environments and situations are recreated (hospitals, health centres, schools, etc.), and the stories are
narrated by people of dierent genders and ages (see Table 2). Likewise, only three advertisements use animation, and most
of them include voiceovers (13 out of 19), with a greater presence of male voices (9 male narrators and 4 female narrators).
3. Results
3.1. e presence of fear and other emotional frames
Table 2 provides a quick and descriptive look at the main variables analysed in the sample. What is striking, among other
issues, is the fact that three autonomous regions have chosen to make animated videos or to channel the message through
cartoons starring non-gendered characters. is decision is in line with the objective pursued, as the three videos have an
informative and didactic focus, and two are aimed at children and young people.
With regard to the age of the characters who are the protagonists of the stories, or who describe the cases, there is a tendency
to mix characters of dierent ages, probably in order for the heterogeneous receivers to identify with the characters and feel
they are being spoken to. Moreover, two of the groups have a considerable presence among the characters: young people and
seniors.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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| 47
Table 2. Content analysis: variables of context
Title and
Autonomous
Region (Spain)
Protagonists’
variables
Location
Voice-over
(gender)
Type of
Advert or
objective
Frame, framing,
or main
emotion
Frame,
framing, or
secondary
emotion
GenderAge
1
Andalusia
#CumpleTuParte
Misc.Misc.Misc.MalePersuasiveFear
Responsibility/
collaboration
2
Aragon
Coronavirus
AnimationEditing-Educational--
3
Principality of
Asturias
Pîensa
Misc.Misc.Misc.MalePersuasive
Responsibility/
collaboration
Fear
4
Balearic Islands
Salvem Vides
Misc.Misc.Misc.-Persuasive
Responsibility/
collaboration
Fear and Hope
5
Canary Islands
La
última
copa
Misc.
Young
people
Misc.MalePersuasiveFear-
6
Cantabria
No te pierdas nada
Misc.
Young
people
Misc.Male.Persuasive
Responsibility/
collaboration
-
7
Castilla-La Mancha
Quédate en casa
Misc.
Young
people
Misc.MaleEducational-Fear
8
Castilla and Leon
Sabes cómo evitarlo
Women
Young
people
HospitalMalePersuasiveFear-
9
Catalonia
Qui ens havia de dir
Misc.Misc.Misc.FemalePersuasiveHope
Responsibility/
collaboration
10
Valencian
Community
Si la lías, nos
la lías a todos -
#AmbPrudencia
Misc.Misc.BeachMalePersuasive
Responsibility/
collaboration
Fear
11
Extremadura
#VueltaAlCole
con seguridad
AnimationEditing-Educational--
12
Galicia
Usa máscara
#Sentidiño
AnimationEditing
Male
and
Female
Educational-
Responsibility/
collaboration
48 |
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July-December of 2024
Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
13
La Rioja
La Rioja Contrataca
Misc.Misc.HospitalFemale.PersuasiveHope
Other (War)
14
Community of
Madrid
#NoTeSaltesLaVida
MenSeniorsMisc.-PersuasiveFear
Responsibility/
collaboration
15
Murcia
#LaMascarilla
Siempre
Misc.AdultsMisc.MaleEducational-
Responsibility/
collaboration
16
Navarre
Con tu compromiso
lo conseguiremos
¡Vamos,
Aurrera!
WomenAdults
Private
household
Male and
Female
PersuasiveHope
Responsibility/
collaboration
17
Euskadi
Manos, mascarilla,
distancia
Misc.AdultsHospital-PersuasiveFear
Responsibility/
collaboration
18
Autonomous City of
Ceuta
Nueva campaña
de….
MenSeniors
Recording
studio
-PersuasiveFear
Responsibility/
collaboration
19
Autonomous City of
Melilla
La Consejería de
Salud Pública…
Misc.Misc.Misc.MalePersuasiveOther
Responsibility/
collaboration
Source: prepared by the authors
On the other hand, although the locations in the sample are diverse, hospitals and places related to health services are the
most common. Moreover, the general trend is to use voiceovers, either in whole or in part, to narrate a given story (13 of the
19 videos), or to make an appropriate appeal. e voice used is generally male with all the traditional attributes such as a low
tone, slow rhythm, solemn register, etc. is type of male voice is present in most of the spots in which the message is conveyed
by inducing fear in the receiver. Only two adverts use a female voice, one of which is that of a girl. Both of these videos use hope
as a frame, or as the main emotion induced.
Leaving aside adverts of an educational nature, the sample focuses on those pieces that have a persuasive advertising objective
(14), which is the type of advertisement that appears the most. In reference to the main frame or emotion evoked, fear is the
most prevalent (one out of three advertisements). However, the present study found that two induced emotions can coexist in
an advertising spot and, based on this concept, the most common framework is that of “responsibility/collaboration”, which
is present in 68% of the cases analysed (13 spots). Fear, on the other hand, is evoked in more than half of the sample analysed
(10 advertisements), either as the rst or second emotion detected. Hope is the emotion evoked the least (three pieces in the
sample).
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| 49
3.2. Symbology of fear: form, substance, and the extent of thanatophobia
is segment specically analyses the nine spots that use fear as the rst or second most commonly evoked sentiment as an
emotional channel to convey the message. us, Table 3 is divided into two main sections to describe the sample, compiling
features that refer to the form and substance of the institutional adverts.
e rst question to be addressed is how the symbolism of fear is presented from a technical perspective, with regard to the
physical, material, aesthetic, visual, and sound components used for the productions.
In this regard, short and realistic pieces are generally used, with powerful images and strong messages using male voices. e
most common style of audio-visual language used is a message that directly addresses the audience: close-ups, protagonists or
narrators looking directly at the camera, assertive messages, imperative and even threatening sentences, etc. e aesthetics of
the videos are dark with dim lighting, depicting hospitals as places that are gloomy and unsettling. e diegetic sounds emitted
by elements displayed on stage, as well as non-diegetic sounds added during the editing phase for eect or accompaniment,
refer to emergency room aspects such as ambulances, sirens, etc., or to situations of uncertainty through the use of disturbing
melodies, the beeping sounds of hospital machinery, etc. (see Figure 1).
On the other hand, beyond the common technical aspects used to produce the spots, it is important to address the substance
of the question or meaning: Which ideas or symbols in the selected sample are used to generate fear?
In this regard, the emotion of fear is produced by directly or indirectly linking the COVID-19 virus to serious health consequences
that can eventually lead to death. is approach symbolically creates a mental picture that the receiver relates to the following
process: breaking the rules leads to spreading and acquiring the COVID-19 virus, and becoming seriously ill, which can result
in serious consequences or death, either of oneself or a loved one (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Associations regarding the form and substance of the adverts
etc.
, or to situations of
uncertainty
through the use of disturbing melodies, the beeping
sounds
of hospital machinery, etc. (see
F
igure 1).
On the other hand, beyond the common technical
aspects
used to produce the spots, it is
important to address the substance of the question or meaning: W
hich
ideas or symbols
in the selected sample are used to generate
fear?
In this
regard
, the emotion of fear is
produced
by
directly or indirectly linking the
COVID-
19 virus to serious health consequences that can eventually lead to death. This
approach symbolically creates a mental
picture
that the receiver relates to the following
process: breaking the rules leads to spreading and acquiring the COVID
-
19 virus
,
and
becoming seriously ill, which can result in serious consequences or death, either of
oneself or a loved one (see
F
igure 1).
Figure
1. Associations regarding the form and substance of the adverts
Source:
p
repared by the authors
In the sample analysed, one of main ideas presented is the concept of loss: the loss of
well-being;
of health
,
despite not having any previous illness; loved ones; interpersonal
relationships
; and the loss of certain ethics regarding compliance with
the
rules.
In fact,
t
he loss of something always implies a change and adaptation to
a
new context, which
leads to a general state of unease about
a
new situation. In the most extreme case of
los
ing
life, it also places the rec
eiver
in the position of suddenly facing an emotionally painful
and traumatic experience
:
death
. Moreover
,
if
it
becomes a common occurrence, it can
lead to
a
syndrome known as thanatophobia, which is extreme anxiety resulting from the
fear of death (Uribe, Valderrama and López, 2011; Zilboorg, 2017).
Table 3. Content
-
specific analysis of the spots that use fear to convey
the
message
Autonomous
Region and
Title
of the spot
Frame, framing, or
main and
secondary emotion
Synopsis and general
aesthetics
Features that induce fear in the
audience
1
Andalusia
#CumpleTuParte
Fear and
responsibility
Review
of
the
“
lesser evils
”
due to restrictions
,
yet
the
avoidance of
“
greater evils
”
as
a result of slowing the spread
of the coronavirus.
Compilation of
“
lesser evils
”
caused by the restrictions
,
and
the
greater evils
“
caused by the
spread of
COVID-19.
Close-
ups, as well as short,
fleeting shots, text in capital
letters
, violin music in the
background
, and the use of
dimly lit or dark backgrounds
in hospital settings.
Respirator in the operating room
(serious health problems).
The sound of a medical monitor
(health problems).
Operating room (health problems).
Elderly woman in bed on a respirator
(death of a mother).
Empty streets, shops closed (social
confinement).
Source: prepared by the authors
In the sample analysed, one of main ideas presented is the concept of loss: the loss of well-being; of health, despite not having
any previous illness; loved ones; interpersonal relationships; and the loss of certain ethics regarding compliance with the
rules. In fact, the loss of something always implies a change and adaptation to a new context, which leads to a general state
of unease about a new situation. In the most extreme case of losing life, it also places the receiver in the position of suddenly
facing an emotionally painful and traumatic experience: death. Moreover, if it becomes a common occurrence, it can lead to a
syndrome known as thanatophobia, which is extreme anxiety resulting from the fear of death (Uribe, Valderrama and López,
2011; Zilboorg, 2017).
50 |
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July-December of 2024
Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
Table 3. Content-specic analysis of the spots that use fear to convey the message
Autonomous Region
and Title of the spot
Frame, framing, or
main and secondary
emotion
Synopsis and general aestheticsFeatures that induce fear in the
audience
1
Andalusia
#CumpleTuParte
Fear and responsibility
Review of the “lesser evils” due to
restrictions, yet the avoidance of
“greater evils” as a result of slowing
the spread of the coronavirus.
Compilation of “lesser evils” caused
by the restrictions, and the greater
evils “caused by the spread of
COVID-19.
Close-ups, as well as short, eeting
shots, text in capital letters, violin
music in the background, and the use
of dimly lit or dark backgrounds in
hospital settings.
Respirator in the operating room
(serious health problems).
e sound of a medical monitor
(health problems).
Operating room (health problems).
Elderly woman in bed on a respirator
(death of a mother).
Empty streets, shops closed (social
connement).
3
Principality of Asturias
Pîensa
Responsibility and fear
Depiction of the virus as an enemy
that is invisible, elusive, lethal, etc.,
by using the voiceover of a male
narrator with an invitation to “ght”
by saying, “We can’t let it beat us”.
Dark contexts with dimly-lit shots,
interspersed with images of the
narrator looking at the camera, and
shots of the hospital as well.
Sounds (non-diegetic) of ambulances
(accident or emergency situation)
and the sound of a medical monitor
(health problems).
Shots of intubated people (serious
health problems) and patients
separated by a glass partition
(isolation and family separation).
4
Balearic Islands
Salvem Vides
Responsibility, fear, and
hope
At Christmas dierent people express
their love of the seasonal festivities,
and announce their regret at not
celebrating them as usual. ese are
interspersed with images of people
in hospital who are seriously ill, and
other people talk about some of the
pathologies and consequences of
COVID-19.
Protagonists: health care
professionals who talk at the camera
and ask the viewer to be responsible
and prudent, in order to celebrate
Christmas in the usual way the
following year.
Two spaces are contrasted: the rst
is a dining room table depicting a
family meal at Christmas; the second
is a hospital setting with healthcare
workers protected by wearing PPE,
in addition to ICU equipment,
ambulances, etc.
Narrations are heard of actual cases
of people who have fallen ill, along
with images that show how they are
treated. e accompanying music is
slow, and background shots are dark,
especially around the dinner table.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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| 51
5
Canary Islands
La
última
copa
Fear
During the rst half of the advert you
see young people enjoying a party
without masks, interspersed with
images of youth who are cheerful and
jovial, along with joyous and festive
music. In the second half, you see a
young person lying on a hospital bed
with mobility problems.
e advert transmits abrupt change
symbolised by the contrast between
fun (a party) and physical suering (a
hospital stay), with the portrayal of a
dimly-lit hospital.
e constant sound of a medical
monitor (in the second part) can be
heard, with beeping sounds alluding
to vital signs (health problems).
e main character seems to have
diculty walking (reduced mobility
with the continuous need for
assistance), and is supported by an
adjustable walking frame
e protagonist is shown with
nasogastric tubes inserted into his
stomach through the mouth, signs of
pain, trembling hands, etc. (serious
health problems).
An attendant is shown, completely
protected by Personal Protective
Equipment (social isolation).
7
Castilla-La Mancha
Quédate en casa
Fear
An adolescent speaks to the
camera against a background that
is completely black, and presents a
situation: a young woman ignores
her coronavirus symptoms and
decides to go out into the street. e
narrator gives a warning: “Whatever
you decide to do has consequences”.
Non-professional, didactic video with
joyful music, entirely starring young
people.
Audio-visual item that plays with the
ambiguity of the phrase, “Whatever
you decide to do has consequences”,
with an open-ended meaning that
ranges from suering a long-term
viral disease, to endangering the lives
of loved ones.
8
Castilla and Leon
Sabes cómo evitarlo
Fear
Presents the case of a young person
with no previous illness who is
stricken with COVID-19, and is
now in the intensive care unit of
a hospital. At the end, a health
professional makes an appeal for
responsibility.
Close-up shots inside a hospital with
emergency medical equipment:
curtained exam rooms, tubes,
catheters, ventilators, endotracheal
tubes, monitors, etc. Shots of the
hospital interior with poor lighting,
unsettling music, narration with a
male voice, and diegetic sounds of
medical equipment.
e sounds of medical emergency
equipment can be heard, along with
the beeping sounds of a machine that
monitors vital signs (serious health
problems).
Presentation of a specic case
that exemplies the dramatic
deterioration of health in a
short period of time (exemplary
synecdoche).
Depiction of healthcare workers
completely protected by
Personal Protective Equipment
(social isolation).
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
10
Valencian Community
Si la lías, nos la lías a
todos
#AmbPrudencia
Responsibility and fear
A singer makes a musical narration
of the “chaos” that results from not
complying with the rules, contrasting
a party on the beach with hospital
images. ere is a specic request to
comply with the rules.
Musical advert with colour images
of people who comply with the
rules, and black and white images of
situations of non-compliance and
hospital scenes. e latter images are
slowed down to emphasise cases of
non-compliance.
Portrayal of medical professionals
with Personal Protective Equipment
(social isolation).
Bedridden patients accompanied by
the sounds of hospital machinery,
such as beeping sounds, alluding to
vital signs (health problems).
Patients lying face down and wearing
breathing devices (oxygen masks
and ventilators) with the sound of
an accelerated pulse (serious health
problems).
Image of an empty bed (shown
earlier in the scene), with the
absence of medical equipment
(indicating death).
14
Community of Madrid
#NoTeSaltes
LaVida
Fear and responsibility
An older person between 60 and
70 years of age is visited at home
by relatives and refuses to ventilate
the house to avoid letting the cold
air come in. In the next frame, his
wife is seen lying on a stretcher in an
ambulance in serious condition.
An elderly woman is lying on a
stretcher, covered with an isothermal
blanket, attached to an oxygen
respirator (indicating serious health
problems leading to death); she is
being transferred by ambulance
directly to the doors of a hospital
emergency room.
17
Euskadi
Manos, mascarilla,
distancia
Fear and responsibility
A patient is lying on a surgical table
in an operating room, surrounded
by ve health professionals with
Personal Protective Equipment, who
move his body slightly.
A sequence shot narrates a medical
surgery in a realistic way by using
diegetic sounds that emanate from the
people and equipment in the scene.
A bedridden patient, apparently
sedated or unconscious due to
COVID-19, is being repositioned
on the operating table by ve
professionals (serious health
problems).
Only diegetic sounds can be heard:
orders or instructions from healthcare
personnel, respiratory equipment
(breathing ventilators), and the
beeping sounds of machinery used to
measure vital signs.
18
Autonomous City of
Ceuta
Nueva campaña de….
Fear and responsibility
Video in which phrases are written
in capital letters against a black
background with disturbing music.
e text involves a series of questions
directed at the viewer.
At the end, a close-up of a person’s
face wearing a black mask appears,
and the phrase “STOP THE
PANDEMIC” is displayed.
e use of text emphasizes the
general lack of protection against
COVID-19, oering information
related to those who have died
from the illness, and associating
the victims with mothers, fathers,
siblings, etc.
Source: prepared by the authors
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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| 53
On the other hand, it can be inferred that the story and message are based on several literary devices, mainly those shown in
Figure 2, which are generally used to enable the receiver to identify with the main characters and the actions proposed. Some
examples include the following: common places and contexts are portrayed in a realistic way (beach parties, family meals,
etc.); exaggeration is used by describing extreme cases, as if they were frequent (hospital admission with a subsequent death,
complications in the hospital, etc.); personication of the virus, depicting it as an enemy that must and can be defeated; and
lastly, individual responsibility and blaming the receiver is eventually pointed out through polysemy (“What you decide to do
has consequences”), etc. In general, the spots analysed resort to constant comparison and contrast, delving into ideas such as
the following: the consequences of compliance with the rules vs. non-compliance; people who follow the recommendations
(supportive citizenship) vs. those who do not follow them (unsupportive citizenship); life vs. death; etc.
Figure 2. Outline of the main design components used to appeal to fear
On the other hand, it can be inferred that the story and message are based on several
literary
devices
, mainly those shown in Figure 2, which are generally used to enable the
receiver to identify with the main characters and the actions proposed. Some
example
s
include the following:
common
places
and contexts are portrayed in a realistic way (beach
parties, family meals, etc.); exaggeration is used by describing extreme cases
,
as if they
were
frequent
(hospital admission with a subsequent death, complications in the hospital,
etc.); personification of the virus, depicting it as an enemy that must and can
be
defeated
;
and
lastly,
individual responsibility and
blaming
the receiver is
eventually
pointed out
through polysemy (
“
W
hat you decide to do
has
consequences
”
), etc. In general, the
spots
analys
ed resort to constant comparison and contrast, delving into ideas such as the
following:
the consequences of compl
iance
with the rules vs. no
n-compliance
; people
who
follow
the recommendations (supportive citizenship) vs. those who do not follow
them
(unsupportive citizenship); life vs. death; etc.
Figure 2. Outline of the main design components used to appeal to fear
Source:
p
repared by the authors
Finally, it is worth highlighting the three quintessential examples of using fear as a vehicle
for the message. In all three cases, the aim is to explicitly and realistically expose the
receiver
to the fear of death
,
or to health
deterioration.
In the example disseminated by the Region of Castilla
and
Leon
(
“
Sabes cómo evitarlo
”
),
the case consisted of a 33
-year-
old woman who had no previous
illness
, yet she was
sedated, bedridden
,
intubated, and surrounded by
emergency
room equipment
.
In the spot
for the Region of Madrid, the attitude of an elderly man leads to the death of his wife.
Finally, in the
“
minimalist
”
advert of the Basque Regional Government, which involves
a sequence shot with a stat
ionary
camera, without oral or written narration
,
a surgery in
Source: prepared by the authors
Finally, it is worth highlighting the three quintessential examples of using fear as a vehicle for the message. In all three cases,
the aim is to explicitly and realistically expose the receiver to the fear of death, or to health deterioration.
In the example disseminated by the Region of Castilla and Leon (“
Sabes cómo evitarlo
”), the case consisted of a 33-year-
old woman who had no previous illness, yet she was sedated, bedridden, intubated, and surrounded by emergency room
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
equipment. In the spot for the Community of Madrid, the attitude of an elderly man leads to the death of his wife. Finally,
in the “minimalist” advert of the Basque regional government, which involves a sequence shot with a stationary camera,
without oral or written narration, a surgery in an operating room is accurately and realistically portrayed, oering the viewer
an unprecedented, exclusive, and original point of view of the hospital environment. In two of the three adverts, life is staged
metaphorically through sounds that emanate from devices that simulate the sound of a heartbeat.
Figure 3. Still shots from the most exemplary adverts on the use of fear
dos de los tres casos se recurre a escenificar metafóricamente la vida a través del sonido
de maquinaria que reproduce los sonidos del corazón.
Figura
3
. Capturas de fotogramas de los spots más representativos del uso del miedo
Fuente:
YouTube
Así, los anuncios institucionales analizados contribuyen, a través del uso de la antítesis o
contraposición, a ilustrar dos mundos paralelos y antagónicos en plena crisis pandémica
global: el de la vida enfrentada a la muerte, y el del sujeto saludable y feliz, frente al
incapacitado físicamente o aislado socialmente por haber enfermado. Se ponen ante el
espejo los contextos opuestos del buen ciudadano y del mal ciudadano
—
aquel que no
respeta las normas y actúa sin precaución, causando problemas
—
. Estos spots se centran
exclusivamente, además, en presentar los casos más dramáticos de las eventuales
consecuencias de enfermar, y el propio hecho de enfermar se atribuye, por norma general,
a incumplir las normas dictadas por los organismos públicos que firman, precisamente, la
publicidad institucional analizada.
4. Discusión y conclusiones
Este trabajo observa la presencia del miedo en los spots institucionales durante la
pandemia provocada por el virus de COVID
-
19 y analiza la construcción de la simbología
del miedo que fomentó la comunicación institucional. Se deduce que el miedo tuvo un
lugar predilecto como emoción sugerida o como emoción que acompaña otros encuadres
o marcos afectivos
—
vehículos persuasivos
—
como la responsabilidad (emoción con
mayor presencia) o la esperanza (H1).
Efectivamente, la atmósfera general de desasosiego o temor fue construida a través de
unos elementos compartidos en la mayoría de spots que emplean el miedo, tanto en
Source: YouTube
Consequently, through the use of antithesis, or contraposition, the institutional adverts analysed help illustrate two parallel
yet antagonistic worlds in the midst of the global health crisis: the rst is life confronted by death; the second is the healthy
and happy person, as opposed to the one who is physically disabled or socially isolated for having fallen ill. us, the opposing
situations are placed in front of the mirror, both the good citizen and the bad citizen, with the latter being the one who does
not follow the rules and acts without caution, which results in grave problems. In addition, these spots focus exclusively on
presenting the most dramatic cases of falling ill with COVID-19. Furthermore, the fact of becoming ill is generally attributed to
non-compliance with the rules, which are issued by the same public bodies that endorse the institutional advertising analysed
in this study.
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Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
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| 55
4. Discussion and conclusions
is paper has discovered the presence of fear in institutional adverts broadcast during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover,
it analyses the way in which the symbolism of fear was constructed and promoted by institutional communications. e
authors surmise that fear played a key role as an allusive emotion, or as a sentiment that accompanied other frames or aective
frameworks used as persuasive vehicles, such as responsibility (the most common emotion observed) or hope (H1).
In fact, the general atmosphere of unease or dread was constructed through certain features that are common to most of the
spots that use fear, both in terms of form (technical design, visual, features, sound elements, etc.) and background (allusive
metaphors, implicit messages, etc.) (H2).
Such features include the following list: short spots with high emotional impact; eeting shots; close-ups in which the characters
look at the camera and question the viewer; scenes of real cases; gloomy aesthetics and lighting; unsettling music; sounds of
medical and emergency devices; medical equipment such as cardiac monitors, endotracheal tubes, wheelchairs, etc.; images
of ambulances; re-created hospital scenes such as ICUs or operating rooms; male voiceovers with a grave tone; and more. All
these features were used to construct a symbology in order to create widespread fear that the virus would propagate, as well as
one’s own infection and that of others.
In any case, the audio-visual language and implicit message of the communicative inputs contrast the opposing worlds of
life and death, including heaven with well-lit shots of white or light tones, and hell, with hospital infrastructures that have
dim lighting, which imbue the viewer with images of a funeral, or with the respective symbols of perdition enhanced through
image, sound, and words. In addition, the narratives are replete with metaphors that construct the meaning of each world. On
the one hand, life is embodied by family meals and parties with friends; and on the other hand, death is portrayed through the
sound of ambulances and beeping heart monitors that convey the fear that they will suddenly stop working.
Furthermore, in achieving the objectives through persuasion, there is a clear absence of other frames such as hope, illusion,
and solidarity. In short, using fear is perfectly legitimate, as long as one does not lie, manipulate, nor try to undermine other
frames. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tendency to use “psychological coercion” (Rodriguez, 2022) has been
observed through the use of fear or threats to achieve certain political ends, which has led the population to take extreme
positions.
erefore, as it is dicult, or even impossible, to determine when it is necessary to alert the population of danger without
alarming or arousing unnecessary fear (Rodríguez-Andrés, 2011), if these features are encouraged, this could imply moving
away from legitimate political persuasion. Furthermore, this makes perfect sense, because in the face of threats such as death,
human beings are capable of responding irrationally and anxiously, driven exclusively by emotion, a lack of reason, and fear
(López-Quintas, 1998), often descending into passivity or indierence (Rangel-Abundis, 2005), and feeling that their freedom
of choice is being curtailed. In fact, this study has revealed that this type of institutional communication was linked to a higher
rate of negative feelings and increased depression (Santa-Cruz et al., 2022), and it contributed to the spread of irrational fears
such as thanatophobia which, as mentioned above, is the persistent and unjustied fear of death, either one’s own or that of a
loved one. In summary, the use of communication based on fear also contributed indirectly to a situation in which the public
now associates the healthcare environment with a pathway to death, rather than the armation of life and hope.
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Politics, fear, and persuasion: an analysis of institutional advertisements during the pandemic
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
5. Acknowledgements
is article has been translated into English by Charles Arthur, to whom we are grateful for his diligent work.
Sources of funding: Department of Audiovisual Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations (University of the Basque
Country
UPV/EHU
), and the Gureiker research group (Basque University System IT1496-22).
6. Specic contributions from each author
Name and surname
Conception and design of the workJulen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
Methodology
Julen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
Data collection and analysisOier San Martín Epalza and Julen Orbegozo Terradillos
Discussion and conclusionsJulen Orbegozo Terradillos and Oier San Martín Epalza
Drafting, formatting, version review and approvalJulen Orbegozo Terradillos
7. Conict of interest
e authors declare that there is no conict of interest contained in this article.
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