%0 Journal Article
%T Wolves at the Door: Musical persuasion in a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement
%A Matthew A. Killmeier
%A Paul Christiansen
%J MedieKultur : Journal of Media and Communication Research
%D 2011
%I Sammenslutningen af Medieforskere i Danmark (SMID)
%X Many journalists and scholars overlook the discursive role of music in TV political advertisements. But we argue that music is a potent means of political persuasion. Music in advertisements is determinative; all other elements¡ªimages, voiceovers, sound effects, written text, and so on¡ªare circumscribed by the music and interpreted in relation to it. Music determines an advertisement¡¯s character through framing and underscoring; musical frames establish interpretative categories and generate expectations, while underscoring comprises music that closely coordinates with images and voiceovers to form a persuasive aesthetic and rhetorical unity. A close reading of a 2004 Bush-Cheney advertisement applies this theory of frames and underscoring to explain the advertisement¡¯s effectiveness. Without music, the advertisement would not only fail to persuade, it would also make no sense.
%K Music in advertising
%K political advertising
%K musical persuasion
%U http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/mediekultur/article/view/2857