Exploring the continuity and change in political advertising research: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Political advertising on social media has increased dramatically in the last several years, reaching specific audiences with tailored messages. Political advertising is characterized by its primary objective, which is to attract voters through various means by a candidate, politician, or political party. By analyzing existing communication patterns that appeal to the general public during the electoral process, this study seeks to develop an intellectual framework that considers linguistic discourse. Using bibliometric analysis, this study examines and evaluates the body of literature on political advertising and how it is disseminated. It includes 114 publications published between 1996 and 2024 in the Scopus and WOS databases and were subjected to keyword analysis in the VOS viewer. This analysis produced six clusters, which eventually combined under three overarching themes. The results showed that the few previous studies conducted in this field only focused on the election season and that direct political actors were the source of these advertisements. More research on the sociopolitical context is desperately needed, along with scientific solutions, to address privacy concerns on digital platforms and disinformation in dialogic discourse. Considering all possible complexities in the persuasive communication process, this article offers concrete directions and propositions on efficiently targeting voters and implementing future regulations.

Keywords

• Political advertising
• elections
• election campaigns
• micro-targeting
• partisans
• media