A functional analysis of presidential television spots: A comparison of Korean and American ads

This study applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the television spots from the 2002 Korean presidential campaign. TV ads appear to have become an institutionalized component of the Korean presidential campaign; as yet no study has examined the most recent Korean presidential ads. Like American candidates, Korean presidential candidates rely more on acclaims (positive utterances) than attacks (negative statements). They also rarely defend in spots. The incumbent party candidate, Roh, offered more acclaims than the challenger Lee, whereas the challenger Lee used more attacks than did Roh. However, unlike American candidates (who emphasized policy over character), policy (issue) and character (image) were almost equally discussed in Korean advertisements. Unlike American presidential candidates, the winner in Korea in 2002 emphasized character more than policy. It is clear that presidential campaign messages from these two cultures possess both similarities and differences.

Key concepts:

• television spots
• functional theory
• 2002 Korean presidential campaign
• incumbency
• outcome