A Functional Analysis of Political Television Advertisementsexamines theory and research on election advertisements. William Benoit employs the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to understand the nature or content of television spots in election campaigns. Beginning with a look at American presidential spots from 19522012, Benoit investigates the three functionsacclaims, attacks, and defensesand the topics of policy and character for these groups of political commercials. The following chapters are devoted to reporting similar data on presidential primary advertisements, presidential third party spots, other theories including Issue Ownership Theory and Functional Federalism Theory, as well as nonpresidential and non-U.S. election advertising. Benoit considers the data, discusses the development of political advertising over time, and finally, presents areas for further research. This book is a uniquely comprehensive examination of the value and use of television spots in political election rhetoric.

William L. Benoit is professor of communication studies at Ohio University.

PrefacePart I: Preliminaries1. Introduction: Political Television Spots2. Method: The Functional Approach to Political AdvertisingPart II: Presidential Campaigns3. In the Beginning: 1952, 1956; The Democrats Ascend: 1960, 19644. Nixons Return: 1968, 1972; After Watergate: 1976, 19805. Republicans in Control: 1984, 1988; The End of the Millennium: 1992, 19966. George W. Bush in the Oval Office: 2000, 2004; Barack Obama, African American President, 2008, 20127. Primary Campaigns: Who Shall Lead Us?8. Third-Party Candidate Political TV Spots: Another ChoicePart III: Other Campaigns9. Other Theories: Issue Ownership and Functional Federalism in Political TV Spots10. Non-Presidential and Non-U.S. TV SpotsPart IV: Comparisons11. Trends and Contrasts of Political Television Spots12. Development of American Political Television Spots13. Conclusions and ImplicationsAppendix. Functional Theory CodebookReferences