Abstract

In Political Communication, “paid media” is what denotes that part of campaign communication that parties can use to address their potential voters in an unmediated and controlled way. Election posters, newspaper advertisements and the like account for a major part of Austrian parties’ campaign budget. However, while a lot of content analytical research has been done on media content regarding campaigns, not a single (quantitative) study has strived to analyze the issue or campaign related content of election posters or the degree of personalization of party posters. Another important element is the consistency within a poster, regarding both textual and visual elements. The aim of this research project is to develop an analytical framework that subsequently can be adapted to analyze further campaigns and allow for effects of time and other influences.