Political parties in Ireland spend considerable time and resources on negative campaigning. Much of this comes in the form of leaflets or social media ads directly attacking the ideas, qualifications and issue positions of political opponents for electoral gain, rather than focusing on their own achievements and future plans.
While this strategy is common in Western politics, experts have noted the increasingly negative and bitter tone of Irish elections, particularly between the larger parties on the government and opposition benches. The production of negative messages is elaborate, with words, colour and tone playing key roles in communication strategies. The big question is, though, do these attacks pay off?
A month before the 2020 General Election, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin declared that a series of social media attacks by Fine Gael on his party were “counterproductive” because “Irish people do not respond well to negative campaigning.” However, during the same election, it was also evident that Fine Gael were asking applicants to join their research team to design attacks on Sinn Féin as part of the selection procedure, suggesting production of negative ads would be a substantial part of the job.
Article originally appeared on RTE Brainstorm.
Featured image appears courtesy of a Creative Commons Licence.
