Campaign Comics: The Use of Comic Books for Strategic Political Communication

Authors

  • Cornelia Brantner Department of Communication, University of Vienna
  • Katharina Lobinger Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, Germany

Keywords:

comic books, election campaigns, political campaigning, political advertising, politainment, public sphere

Abstract

Political parties have long used comic books in their political campaigns. Whereas both ideological and political messages in comics as well as the social and political commentary in editorial cartoons have received vast scholarly attention, comic books and their use for strategic communication are rarely addressed. Thus, this article discusses the use of comic books in political campaigns and analyzes the mass media discourse on comic books used in the 2010 election campaign in Vienna, Austria. Results show the actors in the coverage put special focus on the violent and xenophobic content of the comics. Although these types of content gained much attention, the media failed to discuss the suitability of comics for political purposes.

Author Biographies

Cornelia Brantner, Department of Communication, University of Vienna

Dr. Cornelia Brantner, University Assistant (post-doc) at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria, phone: +43-4277-49343

Katharina Lobinger, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, Germany

Dr. Katharina Lobinger, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at Bremen University, Germany

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Published

2014-01-15

Issue

Vol. 8 (2014)

Section

Articles

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