Political persuasion through cultural appeal: An analysis of radio commercials of the 2015 election in Oyo state, south-west, Nigeria

Abstract

This study is a content analysis of radio commercials on the various gubernatorial candidates for the 2015 election in Oyo State, South West, Nigeria. It focuses on the commercials of candidates from the four most prominent parties in the state. Basically, the paper attempts to identify the dominant radio commercial formats and advertising appeals adopted in the selected political radio commercial as compared to traditional product ads. It was then discovered that the contemporary political ads have now taken after the traditional product ads in terms of strategy. Also, when cultural content combines with voters’ economic needs in an ad, it becomes very effective. We therefore recommend that political parties and their candidates should combine both cultural content and economic needs of voters in their commercials to be more effective. Further research uptake is recommended on children as vote determinants.