Perception and Decision Making: A Multi-Technique Analysis of Campaign Posters in the 2019 Bogotá Mayoral Election

Abstract

Campaign posters are semiotic-discursive resources that form multimodal units of meaning. In political communication, voters’ decision making is affected not only by the verbal message, but also by nonverbal indications or physical features (visual attributes) of the candidates. This study analyzed the relationship between visual communication and citizens’ voting decisions in a political campaign in Colombia. An analysis of campaign posters in the 2019 Bogotá mayoral elections was designed using a multi-technique methodology. First, two eye-tracking experiments were conducted to assess attention patterns. Then, a series of surveys measured emotions in slogans. It was concluded that, in the Colombian scene, visual elements related to candidates’ physical attributes have a small influence over voters’ decision making. This finding contradicts the results of studies carried out in different contexts, namely in Europe and the United States.