UNIVERSITATEA „BABEŞ-BOLYAI” CLUJ-NAPOCA

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

SECŢIA LIMBI MODERNE APLICATE

LUCRARE DE LICENŢĂ

Coordonator ştiinţific
Conf. univ. dr. Adriana Neagu
Absolvent
Dumitriu Delia

-2009-
 UNIVERSITATEA „BABEŞ-BOLYAI” CLUJ-NAPOCA

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

SECŢIA LIMBI MODERNE APLICATE

THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS

(An insight view over political communication)

Coordonator ştiinţific
Conf. univ. dr. Adriana Cecilia Neagu
Absolvent
Dumitriu Delia

2
 -2009-

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES 5

INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER I 10

POLITICAL PUBLICITY – A WAY OF MANIPULATING PEOPLE 10

1.1. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE POLITICAL COMMUNICATION 10

1.2. POLITICS IN THE PUBLICITY ERA 12
1.2.1. POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS 12
1.2.2. THE PUBLIC 14
1.3. THE IMPACT OF MASS MEDIA OVER THE POLITICAL PARTIES 17
1.3.1. THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 17
1.3.1.1. Surveillance 18
1.3.1.2. Interpretation 18
1.3.1.3. Socialization 19
1.3.1.4. Manipulation 20
1.4. COMMUNICATION DURING THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS 20
1.4.1. STRATEGIES 20
1.4.2. ELEMENTS OF THE POLITICAL COMMUNICATION 22
1.4.3. THE STAGES OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION 26
1.4.4. THE PURPOSE AND THE ROLE OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES 29
1.5. THEMES OF POLITICAL PUBLICITY 30

CHAPTER II 32

MEDIA – “THE SCENE” OF THE POLITICIANS - METHODS OF POLITICAL MARKETING - 32

2.1. THE POWER OF TELEVISION AND RADIO 32

2.2. THE WRITTEN PRESS AND STREET PUBLICITY 33
2.3. THE INTERNET 34
2.4. THE DEPOLITICIZATION 38

CHAPTER III 40

APPROACHES TO SEMIOTICS (SAUSSURE AND PIERCE) 40

CHAPTER IV 44

CASE STUDY: ELECTORAL VIEWS IN ROMANIA AND IN THE USA 44

4.1. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE TWO POLITICAL REGIMES 44

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4.1.1. ROMANIA 44
4.1.2. THE UNITED STATES 46
4.2. POLITICAL MARKETING 48
4.2.1. POLITICAL LIFE BEFORE THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN FROM 2004 (TRAIAN BĂSESCU) 48
4.2.2. POLITICAL LIFE BEFORE THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN FROM 2008 (BARACK OBAMA) 49
4.2.3. BUILDING THE IMAGE OF THE CANDIDATE, THE PROGRAM AND FORMULATING THE MESSAGES 50
4.2.3.1. The Image of Traian Băsescu 50
4.2.3.1.1. Political Opponents to Presidency 50
4.2.3.1.2. Electoral Platform of D.A. Alliance 52
4.2.3.1.3. Promoting Strategies 52
4.2.3.2. The Image of Barack Obama 54
4.2.3.2.1. Political Opponents for Presidency 54
4.2.3.2.2. Democratic National Platform 55
4.2.3.2.3. Promoting Strategies 56
4.2.3.2.4. Media Campaign 57
4.2.3.2.5. Negative Publicity 59
4.3. SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS APPLIED ON POLITICAL PUBLICITY 60
4.3.1. BARACK OBAMA 60
4.3.2. TRAIAN BĂSESCU 63

CONCLUSION 66

WORKS CITED 68

BIBLIOGRAPHY 69

REZUMAT 71

RESUMEN 80

4
 List of Figures

FIGURE 1. THE ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION...............................................................................................16

FIGURE 2. WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS..................................................................................35
FIGURE 3. WORLD INTERNET USERS BY WORLD REGIONS.................................................................................................35
FIGURE 4. ONLINE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.....................................................................................................................53
FIGURE 5. THE TRAFFIC OF BARACK OBAMA FROM UNITED KINGDOM IN2008.................................................................58
FIGURE6. BANNERS FROM BARACK’S OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.........................................................................60
FIGURE 7. OABAMA’S LOGO VS. THE LOGO OF PEPSI.........................................................................................................62
Figure 8: Banner from the Presidential Campaign of Traian Băsescu................................................................................63

5
 Introduction

Any endeavor to inquire into the political communication insight must clarify important problems
such as the elements and purpose of political communication, its advertising and propaganda
strategies, the antagonisms created among the groups of politicians and the process of inducing ideas
to the citizens in order to persuade them to adopt certain ideologies. The aim of the present paper is
to provide responses to questions of Romanian people regarding the major differences of the way of
thinking, and behaving as compared to the American people. Also, I am interested to highlight that
the role of mass media in the political process which does not refer only to promoting the image of a
candidate, but also to manipulating our preferences and opinions. This is done through a variety of
methods such as the use of words in their connotative meaning, the use of images which contain
symbols and signs meant to unconsciously suggest us ideas and the intensive promoting at radio,
TV, Internet, written press, on the street, in the means of transport etc.
My choice of writing about political communication comes firstly from my interest
concerning the area of advertising and secondly, from the desire to find out more about politics. I
never had a particular interest in this domain until I had the right to vote, and, in that moment I
found myself in the situation of not having any knowledge about the candidates, the political parties
and their ideologies. Realizing the importance of being well-informed of my country’s political
system and historical background I became aware of the fact that it is a good opportunity to start
reading more about this issue. Consequently, when I had to choose the theme of my thesis I
considered that an approach to this subject would be a challenge and a possibility to find out more.
The primarily focus of this study is to evaluate the process of political communication in
terms of language, political strategies, electorate, political actors and the role of mass media and
secondly, to make a comparative analysis of the American and Romanian political systems and
historical evolution by evaluating the electoral campaigns of Traian Băsescu and Barack Obama.
Nevertheless, I was also interested in exploring more the visual impact of the political posters,
banners and fliers, in this sense, I referred to the science of semiotics according to which,
communication generates significances by “telling us things we already know in a language that
nobody will ever understand” (Semiotics, online article). For applying this theory, my case study
consists of a semiotic analysis of two banners from the electoral campaigns of Traian Băsescu and

6
Barack Obama, trying to discover the political discourse behind the images, taking into account that
a text in the area of semiotics does not refer to words, but to the encoded messages which use signs.
The chapters included in this research are centered on topics related to political
communication, and the first three contain theoretical aspects concerning the political process
through which the electorate receives the information that will draw his attention. The case study
analyzes the insight aspects regarding the strategies of realizing an electoral campaign.
Te first chapter is structured in five parts comprising general considerations about political
communication, the role of political actors in the process of communication, the impact of mass
media over politics, the communication during the electoral campaigns and the themes of political
publicity. I considered necessary to provide a definition for the term political communication as the
process which includes an interaction between many elements. For a better understanding of the
concept I would cite Meadow Robert G. who says that “political communication refers to the change
of symbols and messages between the actors and the public institutions, the public and the mass
media, and these symbols are consequences of the political system”. This requires the presence of
the political actors, and, in this category can be included the political parties, the department of
public relations, the trade unions, the consumers groups, the public organizations, the pressure
groups and the terrorist organizations. All of them have the purpose of transmitting messages,
nevertheless their methods are different. Therefore, on the one hand the political parties, which
represent a group of people with the same political ideologies, intend to attract the electorate on their
side by publicly expressing their ideologies and the changes they propose for improving the life
standards using the traditional means of communication (Internet, TV, radio, written press etc.). On
the other hand, the terrorist groups resort to the tactic of terror (violence, bomb attacks, assassinate)
to transmit their messages and to accomplish their objectives. The common point of these political
actors is represented by the public, their common target. The information citizens receive from the
political parties has a persuasive character whereas the message transmitted by the terrorists is
supposed to frighten them, letting the impression that everything is under their control.
Further on, my investigation thoroughly focuses on the mass media as a principal factor in
the communicational process between the politicians and the electorate. For this reason, I presented
the main functions of mass media in the opinion of the political analyst, Harold Laswell. According
to him, there are three main functions of the press: the surveillance over the world having the
purpose of presenting events, the interpretation of the events and the socialization function which
refers to the fact that, for understanding the political process form their country, the individuals must
socialize in their cultural environment. Moreover, it is essential to add to these the forth function of
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the media which is the deliberate manipulation of the public. It is easy to manipulate through media,
as the fear of feeling isolated in a society determines the individual to agree with the general
opinion, to accept the communicational rules imposed by the society. The most notable ways of
manipulation are represented by: the reduction of the time for presenting a message, event or
political action, the editorial restrictions, the personal and ideological perspective and the fact that,
usually, the journalists give the message another meaning by taking it out from the context. The
reason for which I detailed this function of the press is to show the public which are the principal
methods of manipulation in order to make them be rational and avoid being influenced.
The electoral campaign represents a political event realized for promoting the image of a
candidate and they have the tendency to become standardized as the language implemented and the
strategies used transform the politician in a product. Hence, the electoral campaign can be
considered a communicational process constituted from a number of elements such as the sender,
the message, the channel, the code, the receiver, the context, the feed-back, the noise and the
repertoire. The stages of this process imply the establishment of the target public, the creation of a
positive image of the political actor and the promotion of the politician. I highlighted these aspects
as they are of major importance for my case study where I analyzed the two political campaigns
having as a starting point all the elements enumerated above.
In the second chapter, I considered essential to make a survey about the methods of political
marketing which represent the central theme of investigation of my paper. My thinking about this
chapter proceeds along two paths. The one represents the way in which the means of communication
(TV, Internet, radio, written press and street publicity) participate in the process of promoting the
candidate and the other emphasizes the fact that these media elements provoked the depoliticization
of the politics which loses its essence and becomes more and more dependent on the press.
The third chapter deals with the theoretical part regarding the science of semiotics which I
applied on my case study, trying to identify in two electoral banners the language behind the visual
image and the symbolist message transmitted through the language. Finally, in my case study, I am
interested in demonstrating that even though the both presidents, Traian Băsescu and Barack Obama
had interesting and original electoral campaigns which attracted a large number of voters, the
difference between the two countries are major regarding the money allocated for the campaigns, the
clarity and the coherence of the messages transmitted to the electorate, the quality of the debates, the
political platform, and the most important, the achievements as a president. Needless to say that, in
Romania the money for the electoral campaigns comes from each candidate’s budget whereas in

8
America, Barack Obama organized on the Internet a donation website, BarackObama.com, and he
totaled hundreds of millions of dollars for realizing the electoral campaign.
My approach to this topic undertakes to examine all the points mentioned above with the
final purpose of providing an original view over the entire political communicational process with
all its positive and negative aspects.

9
 CHAPTER I

Political Publicity – A Way of Manipulating People

1.1. General Considerations Concerning the Political Communication

In order to analyze the impact of the mass media on the political communication, I would start by
defining this concept, which, in the view of Meadow Robert G. signifies “the change of symbols and
messages between the actors and the public institutions, the public and the mass media, and these
symbols and messages are consequences of the political system”. (Meadow Robert, online article)
Therefore, the politics represents a very important field of the communication. The politicians
communicate with the public throughout signs, symbols or any other means that spread the message:
the polling, the street messages, the banners, the advertisements, the political assassinate etc. In
general, the politicians use the communication in order to act over the electorate and also over
particular situations.
Political communication implies three important dimensions: the pragmatic dimension, the
symbolic dimension and the structural dimension. With reference to the pragmatic dimension, it can
be said that it regards the study of the real situations of communication. Concerning the theory of the
signs which studies the relation between the signs and the persons who use them, pragmatism refers
to “the relation which connects the transmitter with the receiver and which establishes the
communication” (Watzlawick, Helmick-Beavin, 1972, cited in Seceleanu Andra, 2008:76).
Therefore, the political communication can be perceived according to specific factors such as: the
domination, the information, the persuasion, the seduction or the negotiation. Nevertheless, the
communication can be conceived as a representation of the politics, when the last is defined as the
field of the tension between the collaboration and the conflict. For instance, we can speak about
collaboration when the communication is based on an agreement between two persons when taking
a decision, but when the process of communication has as a final purpose the domination it can be
taken into consideration the aspect of manipulation. In other words, the communication becomes
political when entries in the field of the tension between the collaboration and the conflict. When
speaking about words, and their symbolic dimension it can be said that they refer to symbols, and a

10
phrase might be seen as “map” that can decode the messages we receive while reading or speaking.
The language plays an important part in establishing social relations, as its main function is to find
an agreement in a discourse or a dialogue; therefore it has a conciliatory role. However, a discourse
has the power to create conflicts or it might include strategies of manipulation and domination.
Firstly, the symbols as signs represent important weapons in the hands of the politicians as they
offer them opportunities to belabor the opponents and secondly they are considered to be
perceptions of the social reality, and the ordinary people perceive them as representations of the
world. To continue with, I would say that the concept of “reality” is different in the opinion of each
person. For instance, one can say about the “politics” that is something real, that makes part from
our lives, whereas one can see it as an abstract concept, but in order to establish a connection
between things the human being uses the language, the symbols, the myths etc.
Furthermore, the political communication uses signs such as the words which are selected
and combined in order to make logical sentences and messages. The fact that the discourses of the
politicians are full of symbolic words is important when referring to the public’s perception. As the
symbols have a great power of evocation and identification, the impact on the audience is bigger and
for this reason, the politicians benefit from the possibility of creating a tension on it, stimulating in
this way people’s attention, their involvement and the way of associating ideas. The semiotics,
which refers to “the study of the way in which people communicate through signs and symbols”, is
strongly related to the symbolic dimension. In was introduced in the area of the “image” (photos,
posters) and of the animation (television, cinema) having the purpose of demonstrating their
symbolic efficacy. This way, throughout the video culture, the “political text” testifies the fact that it
can take many forms in music, picture or literature.
To make a general idea concerning the symbolic dimension, it can be said that beyond the
particular culture, the political message can be spread throughout multiple methods: songs, banners,
graffiti, tags, gadgets, slogans, cartoons etc. When speaking about the structural dimension of the
political communication, the reference can be made concerning the means through which it
advances: channels, networks and media. Regarding this aspect, a distinction should be made
between the institutions such as the parliament or the administration, the organizations (political
parties), the media (the written press and the audio-video media) and the social groups.
(Reference: Andra Seceleanu, 2008:76-88)

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1.2. Politics in the Publicity Era

It is difficult to give a definition to the political communication, as it may be defined in several

ways. Denton and Woodward propose a definition trying to emphasize the fact that it refers to a
“public discussion about the allocation of public resources (money), official authority (who decides),
and official sanctions (what is to be rewarded)". (1990, p. 14). They also characterize this type of
communication from the point of view of the intentions of the transmitter whose main purpose is to
influence the political area: “the ultimate factor which makes the communication to be political is
not represented by the source of the message, but by its content and its purpose”. To continue with,
the purposeful communication concerning the politics includes all the means of communication used
by the politicians and by the political actors with the purpose of reaching a certain objective, the
communication which is addressed to the politicians by non-political persons such as the electorate
or the journalists from the written press, the communication which makes reference to their
activities and which is presented in the news and in the written press. (Brian McNair, 2007: 127)

1.2.1. Political Organizations

When speaking about politicians we may refer to them as actors who play a role on the scene of
politics. They aim at influencing the process of taking the decisions, and have the possibility of
realizing this only if they obtain the political power in the Govern and or in constituent assemblies.
However, if they represent the opposition, their main purpose regards the obstruction and the
replacement of those who have the power.
The political parties represent a group of people who gather together in an organizational and
ideological structure and who have the same purposes and share the same ideas. These purposes and
their values will contribute to the ideology of the party they represent. A concrete example is
represented by the British Conservative Party which has as a basic principle “the individual
liberties”, whereas its opponent, the Labour Party sustains the capitalism and the social equality.
Another example in this sense are the democrats from the USA which are associated with the
liberalism in social policy, meanwhile the republicans want to reduce state involvement in all the
aspects of the socio-economic life and support a conservative and center-right platform. If in the
past the parties used only the written press for persuading the electorate to vote them, nowadays, an
entire industry developed, appeared the political marketing and the politicians must resort to all the

12
means of the mass communication in order to be promoted. This new form of communication, the
political publicity uses the mass-media in order to make a difference between the political
“products” (the parties and the candidates) and to give them significance for the electorate in the
same way that on a full market, the producer of detergent tries to distinguish his product from the
others even though they have similar effects.
Another category of political communication is represented by the department of public
relations which is in charge with the image of a certain party, and its purpose is to maintain for a
long period of time a positive image and to try to attenuate the negative publicity. Among the
activities of this department, there are included the proactive devices such as the press conferences
and the party conferences (which want to attract positive reactions from behalf of the journalists),
and the reactive political techniques which are used by the politicians who want to limit the negative
image created by the press. For instance, they use as a strategy the lobby, which must be an ethical
activity, and using this method they convince the journalists to retouch the articles in order to create
a positive image. This new means of political communication represent the area of a new
professional class (consultants, image managers, spin-doctors of the political sphere) which
appeared during the 20th century, and which is useful and advantageous for the politicians.
It is important to know that even though the political parties have a major contribution in the
political process, they are not the only political actors. These political actors may be divided into
three categories: the trade-unions, the consumers groups and the professional associations which can
be defined as public organizations. This type of organization is not connected by a political
ideology, but by some common characteristics of their member’s situation such as work problems
(the case of the trade-unions) or the lack of power of the citizens in the face of large corporations
(the case of the consumer groups). The individuals from these organizations do not associate only
for helping each other, but also for trying to give public notoriety to a certain problem with the help
of the elected politicians. Moreover, these type of organizations benefit from an institutional status
and from public legitimacy which help them to have access to policy-makers and media, receipt of
charitable donations and official funding.
Another category of political actors is represented by the pressure groups which are centered
on one single problem and can be distinguished from the public organizations through the fact that
are less institutionalized and are preoccupied by problems such as the environment, the cruel
treatment of the animals which are raised for their meat or the testing of certain medicines or
cosmetic products. Taking into consideration the members of the pressure groups and the members
of the existent parties, it can be said that the first come from diverse social classes. For example,
13
while the Labour Party and the Conservative Party from Great Britain (or the Democratic and the
Republican parties from the USA) are associated with “the work” and “the businesses”, an
organization such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has members from all the British
social classes. Following the same pattern, the ecological movement was supported by individuals
with different ages, religions and who come from various social classes. It is an example of a
pressure group which tried to be in the general tendency of the political process by creating the
“green” parties in Europe. As a political party, it did not managed to enter in the British Parliament,
but the ecological movement had a major impact over the political agenda, obliging
the Conservative Party and the Labour Party to elaborate at least one ecological directive. The
politics of the pressure groups supposes communication and the utilization of the publicity and
public relations techniques available nowadays. Nevertheless, because of their character these
groups are deprived of the financial resources and they must find less expensive means of
transmitting their political messages such as the public demonstrations and protests which are meant
to attract the attention of the journalists.
The terrorist organizations represent the groups which recur to the tactic of terror – bomb
attempts in urban spaces, assassinate, kidnappings, hijackings – in order to accomplish their
objectives. The most known organizations which are associated with the terrorism are the Irish
Republican Army in North Ireland, Hamas and Hezbollah in the Middle East, ETA in Tara Bascilor
from Spain and al-Qaida which is responsible for the destruction of the tower from World Trade
Center. The terrorist organizations use violence as a way of persuasion and their purposes go beyond
the constitutional process which they consider to be illegitimate. Consequently, it can be said that
even the terrorist acts can be seen as a means of political communication which has as a purpose to
transmit a message to a certain electorate. (Brian McNair, 2007:19-28)

1.2.2. The Public

The main purpose of the communication is to convince and the target of the persuasion is the
public, which represents the second key element of the process of the political communication. In
relation to this, it should be noticed the fact that the public can be in the same time large or limited.
In order to illustrate this, I will take the example given by Brian McNair in his book “Introducere în
comunicarea politică”, which refers to the bomb attack undertaken by IRA (Provisional Irish
Republican Army) in 1995 in a commercial center from Manchester. This type of “communication”

14
has to levels of significance and has two target publics. On the one hand, it addresses to the
population of Great Britain to whom they tell that should see the conflict from North Ireland as
something relevant and, on the other hand, they warn the govern that IRA has the power to
accomplish such acts of terrorism and that there must be established some changes in politics (these
changes produced in 1997 when was elected the Labourist Govern). Nevertheless, regardless of the
size and the type of the public, the political communication wants to produce a certain effect on the
receivers of the message. Starting with the presidential elections from the USA and continuing with
the individual lobby, the transmitter hopes that the message has a positive impact over the political
behavior of the recipient. (Brian McNair, 2007: 27-28)

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Figure 1. The Elements of Political Communication
Source: Bria McNair, 2007:22

Political organizations: - political parties

public organizations
pressure groups
terrorist organizations
governments
Reportage
Editorials
Commentary
Analysis
Appeals
Programmes
Advertising
Public relations

Media
Opinion polls
Letters

Reportage
Editorials
Commentary
Analysis Citizens

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1.3. The Impact of Mass Media over the Political Parties

It is known that the main function of the mass-media is to give information concerning society’s
problems including the political ones, to inform correctly and on time the citizens who will have the
power to influence the decisions taken regarding the society they live in. Generally, the democratic
standards impose in a society the activities of the mass-media through the surveillance of the daily
events which may influence the life of the citizens, through the identification of the principal socio-
political problems and by creating a “free market”, where the spokesmen, the opinion leaders, can
express their ideas, and this represents an advantage for the minorities because sometimes it is
difficult for them to have access to the means of communication. (Andra Seceleanu, 2008: 81).

1.3.1. The Main Functions of Mass Media in the Political System

In the past, when the first news papers appeared, the press was controlled and financed by the
political and religious authorities of those times. Therefore, the information was read exclusively by
the high class (the aristocrats, the bankers, the aristocracy, and the clergy). The democracy liberated
the press from the pressure of the authorities and the mass communication made that the importance
of the media grew quickly. Regarding this aspect, it can be said that from this point appeared the
specific functions of the press in the political system:
- presenting the information to the public;
- interpreting the news and the facts;
- influencing the opinion of the electorate;
- establishing the priorities of the political actions;
- ensuring the relation of the politicians with the electorate.
Moreover, the political analyst, Harold Lasswell mentions three basic functions of the mass-media:
- the surveillance over the world having the purpose of presenting the
events;
- the interpretation of the events;
- the socialization of the individuals in their cultural environment.
Nevertheless, it is important to add the forth function which is the deliberate manipulation of the
political processes. It is important to know that the way in which these functions work affects the

17
life of the individuals, the social groups, the social organizations and also the local and the
international politics.

1.3.1.1. Surveillance

The surveillance has two major purposes: the media should concentrate on certain institutions,
events or political personalities and on the penalization of those aspects which are contrary to the
general standards. The main function of the press is to satisfy the needs of a certain person and
his/her questions concerning certain social aspects. Regarding its functions, the publicity made by
the media became an important source of political motivation. This way, the politicians who want to
have part of publicity or those who want to avoid it, try to structure the events thinking to the effects
that a certain type of publicity might have. For instance, a negative publicity might produce
disastrous effects over the image of a politician and the effort of clearing away these consequences
is double. Besides that the media attracts the attention of the public over the problems of political
interest, it also offers indications regarding the importance of certain problems.
On the one hand, the most important themes are presented by offering more details, on the
first page of the newspapers using huge and colored characters or on special TV shows. On the other
hand, the problems which are less important to the public are presented on the last pages and have
short presentations at the TV and at the radio. On the whole, through the simple fact that they
present a person or an institution, mass-media can offer them a statute, as through it, the values and
the standards which have a social and political status quo are being reaffirmed. Nevertheless, in the
same way that mass-media brings some problems in the attention of the public, it can condemn
certain people or events by ignoring them according to some journalistic criteria. The citizens use
the mass communication in order to keep the contact with the world, as the media represents their
“eyes and ears”.

1.3.1.2. Interpretation

From the beginning, the mass-media assumed the role of interpreting the social and political life by
keeping the attention of the public on the elements that are relevant. The way that the press
interprets the events may change the opinions over the political activities, directing their impact on
the life of the individuals. There are situations when the press made deliberately modifications by

18
changing the language in order to give a false impression over a certain event. By suggesting the
relations between the events and their effects, the media can form the opinions without saying to its
public what to believe or not, and as Bernard Cohen was saying: “The press cannot tell people what
to think, but succeeds extremely well to tell them to what to think”.

1.3.1.3. Socialization

The socialization supposes the assimilation by the individual of the principal values in order to
integrate in the cultural and social life of the society. Presently, the press plays an important part in
the social life of the youngsters as their knowledge concerning the world is assimilated throughout
the mass-media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines etc.). Moreover, it can be said that they accept
the information received, they have models among the TV stars and form their own opinions
regarding this changing world. Nevertheless, it is believed that the media has a negative part and a
positive one. Regarding the negative part, mass-media has the power to induce a false perception
over the most relevant events from a community. A concrete example in this sense could be the fact
that the press shows a lot of interest for death, abominable murder, and the criminals, the terrorists
and the society’s “dregs” are constant apparitions at the TV, on the first page of the newspapers so
that we started to consider them something normal. What I want to emphasize is the fact that we are
responsible for all these and not the press because we show a lot of interest for the sensational, for
the unbelievable and the majority of us look at this type of TV shows, news and not at the cultural
ones. In contrast, taking into account the positive part of the socialization through mass-media, it can
be observed that it makes the citizens to take part to the political actions.
Thus, the socialization through mass-media creates stereotypes! The tendency to imitate and
simplify things influences the behavior and the way of perceiving the reality and we should be
careful concerning the fact that the politicians are the most interested in stereotyping the reaction of
the media consumers. It is also important to know that for a politician is essential to be known by a
large number of people and the press represents the path through the electorate. No one won a battle
with the mass-media and this thing makes the social legitimacy, which the politicians need, one of
the most powerful weapons of the media against the political system.

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1.3.1.4. Manipulation

The specialists consider the fact that the fear of feeling isolated in a society makes the individual to
agree with the general opinion, to accept the communicational rules imposed by the society and they
emphasize the fact that the social individuals are addicted to the mass-media. Therefore, when the
public opinion expresses a high degree of conformism, it becomes a factor which can control other’s
options. Following this path, mass-media becomes a product accepted by the general values of the
society and, regarding this aspect, it accomplishes the role of manipulating and persuading. This can
be considered the main reason for which the citizens feel obliged to follow the ideas and the political
direction imposed by the press. The most notable ways of manipulation are represented by:
- the reduction of the time for presenting a message , event or political
action;
- the editorial restrictions (the interdiction list);
- the personal and ideological perspective;
- giving the message another meaning by taking it out from the context.
(Reference: Andra Seceleanu, 2008: 98-106)

1.4. Communication during the Electoral Campaigns

1.4.1. Strategies

Roland Cayrol considers that the process of political communication is the result of the work
between “television, the inquiries and the publicity”. It is certain that together with all this, an
important part in the transmission of the political messages through the people plays the written
press and the radio. The political publicity forms, promotes and directs through certain groups of
people the image of a political party or of a candidate. Its main purpose is to influence the public
opinion in order to promote a political actor. In its turn, the political publicity manipulates. Taking
into account the fact that the politicians are the promoters of a particular political ideology it can be
said that the verbalization of the elements belongs to an ideological language.
A particular aspect of the political communication is represented by the creation of a
standardized system. This tendency has the role of transforming the politician in a product who has

20
as a purpose the obtaining of votes at the end of the electoral campaign. There are three strategies
which are the components of this standardization process: the projection strategy, the verbal strategy
and the non-verbal strategy.
The projection strategy. Throughout this strategy it is realized a project that includes the
principal offers of the political actor, which regard the social area and the areas of economy and
politics. The base of this project is represented by the inquiries which contain the opinions and the
wishes of the electorate. Therefore, in the project should be included all the elements of the inquiries
and it should give a solution to the major wishes of the population. It is important to know that these
solutions should benefit from a practical part because contrary, the promises which were in vain
could have the effect of a boomerang and return against the politician.
The strategy of informing the public opinion. This strategy involves all the actions through
which the final project must be presented to the citizens and has two parts: the mediatization and the
promotional actions. The publicity of the political actor must be carefully used because his image
must obtain positive or negative values according to certain factors. One of these factors is
connected with the means of communication chosen for transmitting the message, with the time
chosen and last but not least, with the availability of the public for receiving the message. Regarding
all these elements, the politician should take into consideration only those aspects of the mass-media
which, in connection with other actions will contribute in creating a positive image of the politicians
and a closer relation between him/her and the electorate.
The verbal and non-verbal strategy. This strategy contains the mimics, the gestures the
clothes and all the discourses which are meant to sustain the politician’s image. The non-verbal
communication which is used when creating the image of the political actor brings more conviction
to the people when hearing a political discourse. The gestures of a politician are the same with the
gestures of any individual of the society, therefore, this technique makes any citizen of a community
identify with a political person. Using different techniques and strategies of communication, the
political actor creates a product image which presents to the potential electorate. The purpose of this
image is to convince more people of the veracity of the promises and to transform them in
sympathizers and in possible voters. As a conclusion, it should be reminded the benefic effect of the
transparency through which not only the mass-media but also the public have access to all the
actions and the projects of the political actors and that the political communication is presented to us
as a system ruled by norms and specific values which complete this process. (Călin Rus, 2005: 93-
98).

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1.4.2. Elements of the Political Communication

The political communication is based on a series of actions, but it is constituted from a number of
elements. There are many models of the political communication which are formed of different
elements, components, norms and rues. The most eloquent example in this sense is the one which
contains nine elements: the sender, the message, the channel, the code, the receiver, the context, the
feed-back, the noise and the repertoire.
The sender of the political communication is also known as the source of the message and
has the capacity of initiating the process of communication. With reference to the political
communication, the sender is the political actor, who, in order to accomplish his purposes, transmits
to the electorate messages which contain his ideas and opinions. Moreover, the sender can be an
individual or it can include more elements which form a political community which produces
ideological programs. When this political community becomes a transmitter, it will have the role of
expressing its opinions and ideologies using different methods and techniques. Taking into account
the type of information transmitted, the sender will use not only the verbal and non-verbal
communication, but also the paralinguistic communication (the tone, the pauses, the quick or the
slow way of speaking). Concerning these aspects of the communication, the politicians can be
classified into politicians who have a considerable oratorical capacity or a limited one, or in
politicians who are more or less charismatic persons. Nevertheless, one of the most important
problems they confront with is represented by their psychic potential. For instance, there are cases
when they manage very well to transmit the message by combining the verbal and non-verbal
elements, but there are cases when, in conditions of stress or a exhaustion, they want to say a thing
and, unconsciously they start speaking about another subject. For this reason, it is believed that the
self-control is important for the political actor, and he/she has to prove it in any situation, especially
in the moments of conflict and of crisis so that through his contribution could solve the problems
and inspire trust and stability to the electorate. The political sender has some characteristics which
apply in the process of the political communication: he elaborates the message, adapts the message
according to his own beliefs and finally, transmits it through a target population. On the one hand,
the discourse of the politician must contain the elements and the values which sustain his/hers
political ideology and, on the other hand, it must contradict the opinions of the political opponents.
The political message can be seen as a piece of information transmitted by the political
transmitter, and which emphasizes his political doctrine. It has two main characteristics: informing

22
and persuading. Firstly, regarding its informative part, it can be said that the message will contain
short and clear patterns formulated according to a simple language which should be understood by a
large number of people. Secondly, with reference to the persuasive message, there are many cases
when it has a demagogic and populist character, having the purpose of creating confusion in the
mind of the receivers. The next step after creating this confusion is represented by a change in the
systems of values of the receivers, and these systems should reason with the interests of the political
transmitter.
The means of transmitting the political message refer to all the modalities of transmitting the
political message. Through these means of communication it is assured the connection between the
political transmitter and the receivers. The messages can take the shape of the interpersonal
communication or of the mass communication. The last takes place when the information produced
is transmitted by one source through the written press, the radio, the television etc., to large groups
of people. In this case, an immediate feed-back is excluded. Concerning the interpersonal
communication, it is believed that it has a limited public, the change of information is made in well-
structured groups, the feed-back is present and all the component elements of these groups are in
direct contact one with another.
Furthermore, the political communication can be divided into direct and indirect
communication. The first is realized between the politicians and the receivers and uses verbal and
non-verbal elements. In the case of the political communication, the code of the verbal
communication is represented by the ideological language, which can be defined as the base of the
thinking and which transmits meanings and significations with a socio-political value using signs
and symbols, whereas the non-verbal communication uses specific elements such as the gestures, the
mimics, the look etc. The indirect communication is realized through mass-media, which presently
is the most important connector between the politicians and the electorate. It can also be added the
fact that, in general, the opinion leaders who are the principal agents of the indirect political
communication are well-informed and charismatic persons who have a great capacity of persuasion.
The code refers to a logical enumeration of elements, realized using well-established patterns
such as the description of the information, and it differs according with the mental structure of the
users. Concerning the purposes of the politicians, it can be said that they use two types of codes:
simples and complicated. If the main purpose is to convince the receivers, then the codes used in the
structure of the political messages will be simple, clear, will make reference to the emotional and
retributive part of the individual and will have well-defined target groups. In contrast, when the
politicians do not intend to tell the truth or wish to hide a part of it, they resort to complicated codes
23
of the political messages, transforming the political discourses in vague verbalizations, using the
wooden language.
The political receiver is represented by a person or a group through which the messages are
transmitted. These persons must have the ability of receiving the messages, of decoding, analyzing
and understanding them and finally they must react giving a feed-back to the transmitter. In the
process of transferring the information both the transmitter and the receiver will have the role of
encoding and decoding the messages so that they will change alternatively the positions, the
transmitter becoming a receiver and the receiver becoming a transmitter. In the case of the political
communication there is a clear difference between the transmitters and the receivers as the last ones
are more in number than the first. It is known that in the structure of the society a smaller group as
the politicians leads a bigger group as the mass of people. In order to maintain the position of
leaders, the politicians must have the power of persuading the mass. The main purpose of the
politicians is to convince the majority of the electorate to vote them in order to obtain important
results in the electoral campaigns. Moreover, it is important to know that even though the persuasion
is important in the process of convincing the mass, when the politicians insist too much on a certain
type of message, the information will supersaturate the target groups and will appear the “effect of
the boomerang”. Its effect consists on the fact that the target groups will not listen anymore the
political messages and will have an attitude of rejection and hostility regarding the politicians. If
they persist with this mistake, the people will loose their interest and the leaders will loose the
power. This is the reason for which any politician and political organization should balance the
quantity of information they offer daily to the electorate and they should also let the opposition to
express its point of view.
The receivers are not equal, taking into consideration the fact that they belong different
social categories regarding their social position, the level of intelligence etc. The politician should
take into account this aspect and in the moment when he/she will address to these groups should
combine the elements of publicity with information which must contain real promises. If they will
not accomplish the promises made in the electoral campaigns, the target public will change its
political preferences. The people who are not interested in the political life and who do not
participate in the process of the political communication can also be called receivers of the political
messages and can be influenced. The technique through which the politicians can transmit messages
to this category of people is simple as they will transmit important messages for their families and
indirectly those who are not interested in politics will be attracted in this political circle. To

24
conclude, it is important to know that through their discourses the politicians manipulate more or
less the receivers transforming them in possible voters or sympathizers.
The context of the political communication is represented by the field of values, rules and
laws where in a certain period of time takes place the process of communication. The political field
will refer to the political life of a society as a whole with all the component elements, personalities
or events. The specialists in the political communication divide these values in two parts:
A. the values of the electoral campaigns which can be local or general and the last refer to
the presidential elections and the local ones refer to the elections of the mayor and the
local cancellers and in this case the political communication takes the form of the
electoral communication;
B. the values between the elections, which in the majority of the democracies last four years.
The presentation of the political life in stages is a determinant factor of the success or the failure of a
whole system of political values such as the democratic system.
The feed-back in a political community refers to the reactions of the receivers regarding a
politician or a political party as a consequence of the political messages. It represents the reactions
of affection or dislike regarding the political transmitters. It should also be emphasized the fact that
there is a category of persons which are not interested in the political phenomenon.
The source of noise is very important in the political communication and refers to the
physical or psychical disturbing factors which action directly or indirectly and has the power to
influence the political communication. The elements of noise are represented by: the intensity of the
voice, the lack of coherence of the discourses, defects of speaking, a fast or slow rhythm of speaking
etc. The sources of noise can be visible or hidden. In the first category can be included the booing
during the electoral meetings, the disturbing elements from a TV or radio show such as the laughers
and the applauses. An important factor, which is considered to be a hidden source, is represented by
the discourse of the opponents through which they try to destroy the entire scaffold of a discourse
and they try to impose their own opinions. Taking into account the fact that the political
communication should take place in good conditions, it is important for the politicians to know all
the disturbing factors in order to eliminate or control them so that the effects should be minimal.
The repertory is the last of the elements of the political communication and represents all the
knowledge from a certain area of the transmitter and of the receiver. Therefore, the political
communication implies the existence of two types of repertories: the repertoire of the politicians and
of the electorate. It is important for the politician to know how to speculate the differences between
the transmission of the message and the perception of it, in order to be understood, accepted and
25
even sympathized. The difference between the transmitter (the politician) and the receivers (the
mass of people) is given by two parameters: the quality and the quantity, therefore the political
communication is better when the two repertoires join together and when the transmitters and the
receivers speak the same language. (Călin Rus, 2005:101-113)

1.4.3. The Stages of Political Communication

The main purpose of each political actor is to have success and to obtain as many votes as possible.
In order to accomplish all his purposes, he must take care of his image, of his actions, of the
political, economical, social and cultural context and last but not least he should be a good organizer
of his political program. All these elements should be well organized and the image of the politician
should pass through some stages so that he would gain more and more sympathizers.
The first stage of the process of political communication refers to the establishment of the
target public to which addresses the politician and to the analysis of the main characteristics of it. In
this stage will be identified the individuals with a higher degree of receptivity regarding the political
programs. To continue with, it is supposed that it is impossible that an entire society agrees in
totality or disagrees with the ideologies of one political party. In general, the target public of a
politician will be chosen so that the persons who agree with his political ideology should have the
same opinions, related problems and desires and should agree with the ideology promoted by the
party. As it was mentioned before, the people form groups taking into account certain interests, but
they also follow some characteristics such as the age, the sex, the social position, the professional
statute. The electoral campaigns of the politicians and their discourses are based on the
characteristics and on the expectations of the target public having the purpose of making their
programs to be accepted easier.
The next stage refers to the creation of the image of the political actor, an image which
should be promoted and implemented in the mind of the electorate. Even though the image of a
politician should reflect the desire of the mass, it is difficult for a political PR to create a popular and
perfect image for the mind of the electorate. The image of a politician who wants to become popular
among the citizens of a society should be clear, should not contain contradictions, it should be easily
recognized and should contain original elements of the physical and psychological profile of the
candidate so that he should have an advantage towards his opponents. It should be also emphasized
the fact that, presently, in many of the cases, the image of the politicians is more important than the

26
political ideology they promote. Moreover, his entire profile should emphasize his major qualities
such as the power of work, the correctness, the perseverance, his professional achievements and last
but not least his aptitude in combining the conservatism (appreciated more by the older people) with
the modernism of the developed societies (which is more appreciated by the youngsters).
Another quality of a politician and which is the most important in the eyes of any member of
the society is the honesty as no matter how many qualities has a politician, once he does some
mistakes and is seen as a corrupt person, his image will have to suffer for long periods of time. This
situation appears especially in the societies in transition because of the lack of an economy and a
well-shaped system of values, where the standard of living is lower and the citizens are obliged to
make sacrifices. Usually, all this happens in a society where the people believe that the welfare of
the politician comes from the higher taxes they must pay. To all these qualities, the politicians must
add the fact that he has good relations with his family as it represents a symbol for the society.
Therefore, he should participate together with his family at certain cultural or scientific
manifestations where he can be seen by a lot of people. A good example in this sense is the new
president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. He was often seen together with his
family at certain events and lately the new dog he bought for the family became very famous,
concerning the fact that since then the sales of this breed (Portuguese water dog) increased a lot.
The politician should also have the ability of listening the wishes of the people as this quality
will make him popular and it is emphasized especially in the electoral campaigns when during
certain manifestations, the politician must speak openly with the mass of people. Moreover, they
must have the patience of listening the wishes of the people, must shake hands with them, regardless
of their social position and what is more important is the fact that they should respect the promises
they make. The political actor should also have a close and opened relation with the mass-media. He
has to promote and to sustain the climate of friendship and a total transparency with the press. In this
respect, the press conferences are the most indicated and the politician should often realize them as
this way, he will leave the impression of a person who has nothing to hide. During a press
conference, the political actor must avoid as much as possible the mistakes as his image should
reflect him as a serious and self-assured person with clear political ideologies. Nevertheless, the
citizens must understand the fact that the politician is not a singular entity and that he can not solve
all their problems on his own. For this reason, his profile should present him as a person integrated
in a team, appreciated by his colleagues, capable to respect them and he should also demonstrate the
fact that he benefits from the support of his political party.

27
 In an electoral campaign, especially in the countries which confront with an economic
deficiency, the political actor can create a positive image by his preoccupation for the middle class
and by taking measures for helping the elder people, the persons with disabilities and the orphans.
The impact is bigger if these actions are followed by emotional discourses which address to these
categories of people, and it represents a great opportunity for impressing the electorate. It is one of
his attributions to respect the history, the traditions and the national culture. This profile realizes if
he participates to commemorations or to different events which have a historic and religious
character. Nevertheless, his simple presence is not enough as his duty is to sustain a discourse with
reference to the values of the nation which should also amplify his patriotism. This attitude will
leave the people under the impression that their leader is a good patriot, an intelligent person with
appreciates the values and who loves his country. Related to this subject, it is important for the
politician to demonstrate the fact that he is a good Christian. It is well-known that the religious
institution maintains the balance between different societies and that it has a great power of
influencing the people. A politician’s faith must be authentic and must leave the impression that is
something usual because contrary he will receive a negative feed-back.
These were the most important elements regarding the image of the political actor. It is better
to know that if the exterior elements (a pleasant appearance, the clothes) are combined with the
interior elements (the values of the politician), then the result will be a positive image of the
politician which must be promoted to the mass of people.
The third stage of the process of political communication refers to the promotion of the
politician and of his electoral program which must resonate with the people’s wishes. There are two
possibilities through which the politician is promoted to the citizens: through actions which have a
big impact and through a presentation of the politician in several stages on a longer period of time.
The first possibility refers to the methods which have a big impact such as the assault of the
citizens with a lot of information which is meant to be implemented in their mind with the help of
the mass-media. By combining the informational quantity with the quality of the image will result a
positive profile of the politician which will be presented to the electorate. At a certain point, the
politicians make an error by stopping this process of giving a lot of information and all the positive
effects of the campaign disappear in the following period. It is better to know that the assault with
information must persist but in smaller quantities.
The second possibility regards the presentation of the politician in several stages on a longer
period of time and usually, the politicians who resort to this method want to occupy higher
positions. Throughout this method, the image of the politician succeeds to fix into the mind of the
28
people and finally if he manages to create a positive image in their minds, then the politician will
benefit from the sympathy of the electorate.
The forth stage of the political communication takes into consideration the techniques used
by the politicians to differentiate from their opponents. They are interested if their popularity
increases in the inquiries and the actions they realize in the electoral campaigns contribute to this.
The most important activities are: the meetings with the people from different social classes,
constant apparitions at the TV, at the radio, in the written press, they visit the workers from the most
important industrial areas, participate to different religious ceremonials and events with a historic
character, participate to the shows of important artists and participate to the electoral meetings. All
these actions have the role of attracting the attention of the public opinion over the politicians, over
their qualities and also have the role of exciting the public opinion by appealing to their emotional
part especially when they show interest for the problems of the people and when they help them.
These activities increase the degree of sensitiveness of the electorate and will result a closer relation
between the people and the politicians. On the whole, it can be said that the presentation of a
politician in stages has many advantages and a system of rules, which, if respected and applied bring
a positive reaction from behalf of the electorate over the candidates and over the political parties
they represent. (Călin Rus, 2005: 114-127)

1.4.4. The Purpose and the Role of the Political Parties

The main purpose of political communication is to realize a connection between the politicians and
the citizens. Therefore, the politicians use the political communication for presenting their political
programs which contain solutions for the different problems of the society, trying through this
method to attract to their party a large number of people. The content of the messages having a
political character, will try to persuade the mass of people that the ideas and the solutions they offer
are truthful and practicable. The political communication divides in two major parts according to the
ideology and the image: the political communication which uses the dialog as a method and the
political communication which uses the marketing as a method.
The method which uses the dialog, sustains the ideology of the politician who analyzes the
social and economical problems and proposes a set of values and ideas, trying in this way to find
solutions for these problems. For this method of communication, the politician uses the
informational, the symbolical and the operational functions of the ideological language. The first

29
function gives the messages an informational character which is doubled by an ideological-
participative language which has the function of explaining to the people the ideas which contain
rough information and it also gives the messages the power of persuasion. Furthermore, for a greater
clarity of the messages, it is used the operational language, which has the role of converting the
abstract elements from a message into political actions perceived by the public.
The method of the marketing has as a purpose the attraction of the electorate by using the
power of the persuasion and it is used especially during the electoral campaigns. This method
centers on the image of the political actor. The language which is used does not insist on the
presentation of the political offer, amplifies the image of the politicians and in the same time brings
disadvantages to their opponents. The image of a politician can be described as the result of a long
process and can be defined as being the product of the electoral publicity. Through this image it is
intended to attract public’s attention and interest and finally to convince and attract the citizens to
vote a certain candidate. In this method, it is used more the emotional part of the ideological
language appealing to the sensitivity of the public and it manages to attract its attention on the
politician by using the phenomenon of personalizing the politics. Finally, it can be said that using
the method of the marketing, it is not intended to emphasize the elements from the political program,
but to form an opinion regarding the positive image of the candidate and to promote a negative
image of the opponents. (Călin Rus, 2005: 130-134)

1.5. Themes of Political Publicity

Political publicity refers to the action of calling the electorate to vote a candidate or to sustain a
political party. Therefore, the politicians resort to different methods for convincing the citizens that
they deserve their vote. There are three methods (the publicity of action, the representation, the
persuasion and seduction) which are often used in the electoral campaigns and for this reason can be
considered the most important themes of the political publicity.
The publicity of action represents all the activities of a political party which have as a
purpose the calling of the electorate to vote, and using the electoral publicity it convinces them to
adhere to a certain association or party or to their purposes and ideologies. It must be noted the fact
that the political publicity is conceived as an impulse to action of the people and shows using the
public space the representations of the political and social practices.
The representation is another way of making political publicity and emphasizes the
connection between the political parties, the politicians and the citizens. Its final purpose is to show
30
in a public space the ideologies and the ideas of one political party. In this case, it can be spoken of a
publicity of ideas rather than a publicity of the political actors; therefore it does not represent a
personalized publicity of a politician, but it refers to the presentation of the ideas and of the
commitments.
The persuasion and the seduction are the two rhetorical effects of the publicity which are
more and more emphasized by the politics. On the one hand, the traditional political communication
is based on the rhetoric of the persuasion and presents arguments which should be assumed by the
electorate who shows in this way its attachment to the political discourse. On the other hand, it
should be emphasized the fact that the publicity resorts more and more to the technique of the
seduction, which, in contrast with the persuasion, takes into account the person to whom it
addresses. The large number of the methods through which the image of a politician may be
promoted made that the possibilities of the seduction enlarge in the sense that the discourses of the
politicians have no real political consistency. For instance, this could be the case of a politician who
in his electoral discourse presents abstract concepts such as liberty, responsibility, dignity, authority
without explaining their involvement in precise political situations. (Călin Sinescu, 2007:138-139)

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 CHAPTER II

MEDIA – “The Scene” of the Politicians

- Methods of Political Marketing -

2.1. The Power of Television and Radio

It would be an interesting investigation, trying to find out which is the element that decides who will
win in an electoral campaign: the candidates or the media? Presently, the messages from politicians
make the electorate to trust more the information received throughout the press than the political
parties. Nevertheless, the TV presenters and the press in general are not impartial regarding the
politics. They are partisans of certain parties and if a politician is not liked by the TV presenters he
has minimal chances to win. Therefore, it is in the interest of the politicians to have friends among
the TV presenters who register the highest ratings as nowadays the battle is not given in front of the
electorate but in front of the cameras.
There is a dependence on the media, as the politicians must communicate directly with the
electorate in order to obtain votes by answering to the questions of the public as they know that if
the electorate does not receive much information concerning their activity and their purposes, it will
lose its interest. They conceive the electoral campaigns in order to attract television’s interest, in
other words, the politicians are guided by the needs of the press: the slogans must be catchy and the
promises they make should catch the voter’s eye.
The political interests and the mass-media are strongly connected, and in this context the
“chain” is represented by the money. For instance, the politicians from Romania spent enormous
quantities of money in their electoral campaign, especially for the spots from the national televisions
and also for their apparitions in the political shows. In order to participate in this type of shows a
candidate must pay between 10000 and 20000 euro, and 100.000 euro for a spot of 30 seconds
broadcasted in prime time. To make a short comparison with America, I would add the fact that the
costs for a political spot rise up to 350000 dollars. Through the medium of television, the candidate
gets closer to the electorate, and if he/she appears constantly at the TV has more chances to win as
the impact upon the viewers is bigger. Nowadays, the politicians must have not only intellectual
qualities but also a pleasant appearance. Even though this may be an awkward situation, we tend to

32
choose our leaders taking into account the way they look as we are influenced by the concept of
“beauty” which is promoted excessively. And now follows the question: Do we choose our leaders
according to their values and attitudes concerning the problems from the society or according to
their charisma? To continue with, it is important for them to know how to take advantage of the
technical part of the television: the cameras, the lights, the prompter. Even though this is not a
determinant element to be taken into consideration when choosing our leaders, it might be helpful
for them regarding their political success. To illustrate this point of view, I would give the example
of the presidents Carter and Ronald Reagan. The last was an actor, therefore, the cameras did not
intimidate him, he knew how to read a script, while it was obvious that Carter was feeling
uncomfortable in front of the TV and this was bad for his image.
The radio represents another method of making publicity and its advantage is represented by
the fact that it is cheaper. Moreover, the radio is preferred to the television, especially when the local
elections take place. In addition, the message has a precise impact on a varied audience as the
majority of the radios are specialized on a certain theme: classic, rock, informative etc. Nevertheless,
the radio commercials must be catchy and have many sound effects in order to attract the attention
as they do not have the image as a support. (Joe McGinnies, 1968)

2.2. The Written Press and Street Publicity

One advantage of the written press in comparison with the other means of communication is the fact
that is allows to a candidate to give more information and gives the electorate the possibility to read
again the materials when he/she wishes not only when is broadcasted the TV program. The variety
of newspaper’s and magazine’s articles attracts a miscellaneous category of people: those interested
in sports, in economy, in entertainment, therefore the politicians should adapt their messages
according to the particular section they want to appear. For example, if they want to be promoted in
an economic newspaper, then the message should render information concerning politician’s plans
about new changes in the country’s economy. Regarding the street publicity, it can be said that her
main purpose is to remind and not to persuade. Consequently, the banners do not contain too much
information, their main characteristic being the simplicity. For instance, if a poster contains too
much information, the persons from buses, cars etc., do not manage to read everything and this is the
reason for which the accent is put on the image and also on simple and catchy words. To all this
there can be added the balloons, the pens, the brochures, the trinkets which can play an important
part in an electoral campaign. In other words, we should not underestimate this simple form of
33
advertising as they have the power to create a chain reaction as a person who sees the name of a
candidate may start to put questions concerning a certain campaign or a certain politician and his
plans may attract viewer’s attention. (Joe McGinnies, 1968)

2.3. The Internet

If in the 1990 the Internet was practically unknown for the majority of the public, after this period
the number of the users increased rapidly in the industrialized countries. Despite the difficulties
connected with the access to this new form of media, it can be said that a large number of people
began to use the Internet and the number of those who do not have access to it reduce more and
more. Analyzing some statistics from 1993 up to 2000, it can be observed the fact that the number of
the users of the Internet grew from 90.000 to 304 millions, and in July 2000 were 137 millions of
users in the USA, 83 millions in Europe and a total of 72 millions of guests all over the world.
Around the same year, Pipa Norris (on Internet World) mentioned the fact that there were almost
1228 web sites which were detained by political parties; in Europe the number of the on line
political parties grew up to 7075 meanwhile the number of the newspapers decreased reaching the
number of 481. It should also be emphasized the fact that the power of the digital revolution can be
shown by comparing it with the evolution of the other means of communication: in order to reach
the number of 50 millions users, the radio developed in 38 years, the television in13 years, the PC in
16 years and the Internet in 4 years. Making an analysis of the year 2007 we draw up the astonishing
conclusion that in the entire world there are 1 milliard and 114 millions of users (in Europe there are
315 millions of users, in USA 233 millions and in Asia 399 millions).
In the following table there are presented relevant numbers and the rhythm in which the
number of users increased in each region.

34
Figure 2. World Internet Usage and Population Statistics
Source: www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

World Internet Usage and Population Statistics

World Regions Population Internet Internet Users Penetration Users Users
(2008 Est.) Users Dec. Latest Data (% Growth % of
31,2000 Population) 2000-2008 Table
Africa 975,330,899 4,514,400 54,171,500 5.6 % 1,100.0 % 3.4 %

Asia 3,780,819,792 114,304,000 657,170,816 17.4 % 474.9 % 41.2 %

Europe 803,903,540 105,096,093 393,373,398 48.9 % 274.3 % 24.6 %

Middle East 196,767,614 3,284,800 45,861,346 23.3 % 1,296.2 % 2.9 %

North America 337,572,949 108,096,800 251,290,489 74.4 % 132.5 % 15.7 %

Latin America/ 581,249,892 18,068,919 173,619,140 29.9 % 860.9 % 10.9 %

Carribean
Oceania/Australia 34,384,384 7,620,480 20,783,419 60.4 % 172.7 % 1.3 %

WORLD TOTAL 6,710,029,070 360,985,492 20,783,419 23.8 % 342.2 % 100.0

%

NOTES: (1) Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for March 31, 2009. (2) CLICK on each world region name for detailed regional usage
information. (3) Demographic (Population) numbers are based on data from the US CENSUS BUREAU. (4) Internet usage information comes from data
published by Nielsen Online, by the International Telecommunications Union, by GfK, local Regulators and other reliable sources. (5) For definitions,
disclaimer, and navigation help, please refer to the Site Surfing Guide. (6) Information in this site may be cited, giving the due credit to
www.internetworldstats.com. Copyright © 2001 - 2009, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Figure 3. World Internet Users by World Regions

World Internet Users by World Regions

1%
2%
3%
Asia
11% Europe
42% North America
Latin America
16%
Africa
Middle East
25%
Oceania/Australia

Copyright © 2009, Miniwatts Marketing Group

35
 In this context, the Internet became the new media for the political communication and its
main advantage was the fact that it permitted to the political parties to control the messages and to
send them directly to the electorate, without being necessary to submit it to the journalistic filter. To
continue with, this new means of communication offers to the smaller parties the possibility of
promoting their ideologies and permits an active communication between the parties and the
citizens. Regarding the rhetorical view over the Internet, it is taken into consideration what is
communicated and the way in which the Internet communicates. Therefore, the content of the site
becomes the unity of analyze: it is analyzed the style, the shape, the image, the significant, the
language, the themes.
The Internet stimulates the political debates, and makes possible the organization of
discussions on the forum or on the blogs. For this reason, the Internet can be considered a potential
source of opening new possibilities of affirmation for the new organizations which are not
represented in the political systems and which can bring into light aspects which were not broached
by the press or by other political parties. The forum represents another way of organizing interesting
debates. It is no exaggerated to say that it is a place of the liberty and of the authenticity, where each
individual has the possibility of expressing in a free way, without taking into consideration the
restrictions imposed by the institutional life or by the social image. Moreover, the Internet passes
beyond the geographical, social, cultural or religious frontiers and connects individuals from
different social classes, who, in other conditions would not have the possibility to communicate. In
this context, the Internet becomes the place where new ideas appear and where the ideas expressed
by some persons are understood by others. Other advantage of the political debates from the Internet
could also be the participation at the dialogues from the forums which generates social connections,
it can be considered a pedagogical indicator and the rules are made by all the participants and the
proof is the good manner codes established by the users.
The major function of the Internet in the political context is the fact that it generates a closer
relation between the politicians and the citizens, regarding the aspect of a greater political
transparency. This transparency represents in the same time the condition, the means and the
purpose of the democracy. Concerning this part of the close relation which establishes between the
politicians and the electorate, the Internet represents an element through which the political actors
have the possibility of knowing citizen’s points of view and their wishes. (Călin Sinescu, 2007: 233-
242)

36
 The “new media”, as it is perceived the Internet is a means of communication more attractive
especially for the youngsters who become more and more addicted to it. Another point is that it has
the power to change attitudes and to influence the IQ level of the persons who use it and it is also
preferred by the majority of the people to the traditional means of communication. Subsequently, the
politicians observed this evolution and realized that they can use this social reality for their electoral
campaigns. It is believed that “the new media” has the capacity to give an impulse to certain social
categories, especially to the youngsters. Nevertheless, this enthusiasm of trying to change the
attitude of the young people has its limits as it is very hard to “transform the youngsters from couch
potatoes in active voters!” (Dorina Guţu Tudor – New Media).
In the USA, the statistics ascertain the fact that the citizens give importance to “the new
media” when speaking about politics and politicians. The number of the Americans who used the
Internet in order to pick up political information grew significantly (24% in 2008 in comparison
with 13% in 2004). Furthermore, the statistics made by Pew Internet Research Project show the fact
that 42% from the youngsters between the ages of 18-29 use the Internet to get new information
concerning the electoral campaign and this emphasizes the fact that a powerful “weapon” arises in
the hands of the politicians. In the Asiatic countries the situation is even more spectacular. In China
there are 137 millions of users of the Internet in contrast with America where the number exceeds
200 millions. However, in Romania the situation is different as the politicians used the “blog” only
for short periods of time in order to communicate with the electorate.
The term blog is new for the Romanian public and designates “a biographical web log: a type
of diary on a Website that is changed regularly, to give the latest news. The page usually contains
someone’s personal opinions, comments, and experiences, and provides links to other places on the
Internet”. In my opinion, the blog is important and may be helpful for a better and direct
communication between the politicians and a large number of people. What is more, the Romanian
electorate needs to find out more about its leaders, it is a necessity to benefit of the possibility to ask
questions directly. Presently, the blog of Adrian Năstase (http://nastase.wordpress.com) is the most
visited political blog from our country and it could represent a start in the domain of communication
between the politicians and the electorate. (Dorina Guţu-Tudor, 2008: 9- 30, 188-190)

37
2.4. The Depoliticization

In the last two decades, in the political area was developed a new form of publicity, handled by the
advertising agencies, by the specialists in mass-media and has as a principal tool the Internet.
Therefore, this new media discovered a new path: the politics. Taking this into consideration, it can
be said that appeared a new commercial manifestation: the political marketing which centers on the
simplicity, honesty and intimacy. In this way, it is created a “salable” image of the political leader
in order to convince the electorate to vote him, appealing more and more to the emotional part.
Moreover, the political scene tries to detach from the emphatic and an example in this particular
sense is the fact that the leader is presented in the electoral campaigns near his family or sometimes
shaking hands with poor people, pensioners or with his partisans.
The political function of the press consists in informing the public about the actions or the
inactions of the political parties and of the govern. Usually, in Romania, an electoral campaign
begins with a year before the elections, and regarding this aspect, there are being organized shows
where the candidates are invited, political posters and banners are made and their messages appeal to
joy and friendship. Regarding the slogans, it can be said that they use more and more an emotional,
tender tone: “If you vote PSD + PC, you vote for you!” – „Votezi PSD + PC, votezi pentru tine”,
„Together for a better life!” – „Împreună, pentru o viaţă mai bună! (PRM)” or "A man to bring us
peace!” – „Un om pentru liniştea noastră!” (the slogan used by Ion Iliescu in his electoral
campaign). This strategy of marketing is very criticised as it corrupts the democracy, hiding the
internal problems by substituting the political programs with the charisma of the political leaders.
Trying to attract a large number of people, their discourses are balanced, simple and have a tendency
to become neutral. Refering to the political communication as a type of publicity, the french
sociologist Gilles Lipovetsky says that: „The seduction, contributes to the maintenance of the
democratical institutions.
It can not be said that the entertainment replaces the information as long as it is very difficult
to delimit the entertainment and the information. On the other hand, it seems that the „show -
politics” prolongs the process of desacralization which started at the end of the 17 th century.” To
draw a conclusion from this quote, I would say that the political publicity is ubiquitous on the
contemporary political scene which was named by Jean Baudrillard the consumer society, who
wrote that “Our society thinks itself and speaks itself as a consumer”, and which has as values: the
pleasure, simplicity, humor and hedonism.

38
 The world deals with a depoliticization of the politics which loses its essence and becomes
more and more dependent on the press. Following this path, the politicians tend to become salable
“products”. For instance, they appear in newspapers, banners, posters, calendars, at the TV, at the
radio, on the internet, in other words we are practically invaded by this mass mediatization and the
individual feels that can not hold the control anymore over his own life. What is more important, is
the fact that, as Giovanni Sartori emphasized, in his book “Homo videns: La sociedad teledirigida”,
the electronic media makes us migrate “from homo sapiens to homo videns”. Although it is hard to
believe that presently this happens with our society, we accept to be manipulated and to become
addicted to the TV and in our mind the concepts are replaced by the image. Moreover, we dress as
the TV says, we eat what we hear at the TV that is good for our health and we even educate our
children as we see at the TV. The journalists search for the sensational, the politicians try to take
advantage of the sensational and we enjoy it. Analyzing the facts presented by the media we
conceive ideas and after that, we say our opinions about what is good or what is wrong, about what
he/she should do and, in this way, we enter in a vicious circle believing that we have the power to
change the world. Nevertheless, the reality is another: our power is nothing but pure illusion, we are
those who are manipulated, we have absolutely no power, being just the spectators of a play, which
has in the starring role the politicians. It is essential to go beyond this manipulation and start
thinking! And as Mario Pereyra said we should try to: “return to books, to cultivate the habit of
reading, to develop critical thinking, to become not mere refractors of the screen content but thinkers
with minds of our own. To all these, we must add another supreme imperative: a return to the Word,
to the Holy Scriptures, which not only favors thinking, but establishes ethical principles and
transcendental values that are essential to life here and to life in the hereafter.” (Mario Pereyra,
online article)

39
 CHAPTER III
Approaches to Semiotics (Saussure and Pierce)

Generally speaking, semiotic refers to the science that studies the meaning of the signs.
Nevertheless, it represents a field intensively approached by philosophers, therefore it is difficult to
give a general definition to the term. The two most important writers of semiotic are Fernand de
Saussure and Charles Sanders Pierce who are considered the fathers of semiotic. Their approaches
were different to some extent. For a better understanding of this concept, I would use as a starting
point the book “A theory of semiotics” written by Umberto Eco. He also considers necessarily citing
the two scholars who have different perceptions regarding the term “semiotic”.
Consequently, the definition given by Saussure to the semiotic is:

Language is a system of signs that express ideas, and is therefore comparable to a system of
writing, the alphabet of deaf-mutes, symbolic rites, polite formulas, military signals, etc. But
it is the most important of these systems. A science that studies the life of signs within society
is conceivable; it would be part of social psychology and consequently of general
psychology; I shall call it semiology (from the Greek semeion, 'sign'). Semiology would show
what constitutes signs, what laws govern them. Since the science does not yet exist, no one
can say what it would be; but it has a right to existence, a place staked out in advance.
Linguistics is only a part of the general science of semiology; the laws discovered by
semiology will be applicable to linguistics, and the latter will circumscribe a well-defined
area within the mass of anthropological facts.

From this definition it can be noticed the fact that Fernand de Saussure gives major
importance to the language which is in a dynamic relation with the speech. Language is the total
sum of all available speech instances. The relationship between "language" and "speech" is similar
to that between "code" and "message", used by later semioticians. We put together and send
messages by referring to a code, an existing system of relationships. Most semioticians agree that no
messages are possible without the existence of a code (although its actual structure may be difficult
to demonstrate). (Visual Communication and Semiotics, online article hj)
Furthermore, Saussure’s theory concerning the “signification” is a “dyadic” or two-part
model of the sign. He defined a sign as being composed of: the “signified” (the idea being
represented) and the “signifier” (the word doing the representing). Therefore, the sign refers to what
results from the association of the signifier with the signified. The relationship between those two

40
concepts is referred to as a “signification” and it is known that Saussure refers to the signified as to
as an idea. (Umberto Eco, 1976)
Another view over the semiotic can be found in a more complete definition given by Charles
Sanders Pierce:

Semiotic is the doctrine of the essential nature and fundamental varieties of possible
semiosis. By semiosis I mean an action, an influence, which is, or involves a cooperation of
three subjects, such as a sign, its object and its interpretant, this tri-relative influence not
being in anyway resolvable into actions between pairs […] A sign is something which stands
to somebody for something in some respects or capacity.

The philosopher distinguishes the “sign” from “word” and sustains that it is a mechanism for
“understanding”. As compared to Saussure’s “self-content dyad”, Pierce offered a triad: the
representamen (the form which the sign takes), an interpretant (not an interpreter but rather the sense
made of the sign) and an object (to which the signs refer). In his view, there are three modes of
signification:

Symbol / symbolic: the way in which the signifier does not resemble
the signified but which is arbitrary or purely conventional so that the relationship must be learnt (e.g.
a red traffic light, the word “stop”, a number, a national flag).

Icon / iconic: a mode in which the signifier physically or

perceptually resembles or imitates the signified (recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or
smelling like it) – being similar in possessing some of its qualities (e.g. a portrait, a diagram, a scale-
model, onomatopoeia, metaphors, sound effects, imitative gestures).

41
 Index / indexical: a mode in which the signifier is not purely
arbitrary but is directly connected in some way (physically or causally) to the signified (e.g. smoke,
thermometer, footprint, fingerprint, pain, pulse rate, clock, spirit-level).
In semiotics, the terms denotation and connotation describe the relation which establishes
between the signifier and its signified, and an analytic distinction is made between two types of
signified: a denotative signified and a connotative signified. Meaning includes both denotation and
connotation. The sign’s denotation refers to the “common sense” meaning of it and is said to come
from social convention. A sign may have more than one denotation meaning and the choice for a
certain meaning regards the context in which it is found. Nonetheless, the signs may have different
“subjective” meanings that come from individual’s personal experience. This could be a definition
for the connotation of the sign. ( James Hurfold, online article)
It should be highlighted the fact that signs are generated by myths and serve to maintain
them. Generally, myths refer to beliefs, which in practice prove to be false, can be seen as extended
metaphors and they help us to understand our experiences within a culture. Their major function is
to make the historical and cultural values seem natural, normal, objective, being as a representation
of the “way things are”. The term “myth” refers to unconscious meaning that a society makes from a
semiotic process. Theorists make a distinction between the three categories of signification and in
this sense it can be said that the denotative order of signification is seen as a primarily
representational and relatively self-contained. The connotative level of signification reflects
“expressive” values which are attached to a sign. In the third category (mythological) of
signification the signs mirror the cultural concepts and assign them a particular view, for instance
freedom, individualism, objectivism, femininity, masculinity etc.
A perception is considered to be a representation of a sign, for this reason some theorists
argue that there are involved codes in our perception over the world. Perception depends on coding
the world into iconic signs that can re-present it within our mind. The Gestalt psychology outlined
the universal principles of perceptual organization. The most important are the following: proximity,
similarity, good continuation, closure, smallness, surroundness and symmetry.

42
Hence, the law of proximity refers to certain features which are close together and which are
associated; the law of similarity regards those features which look similar; the law of continuity is
connected with the contours based on smooth continuity which are preferred to abrupt changes of
direction; the law of closure refers to those interpretations which produce “closed” rather than
“open” figures; the principle of smallness regards those small areas which tend to be seen as figures
against a larger background; the symmetry emphasizes the symmetrical areas that tend to be seen as
figures against asymmetrical backgrounds and the surroundness which refers to those areas which
can be seen as surrounded by others, which tend to be perceived as figures.
Codes are not simply “conventions” of communication but rather procedural systems of
related conventions, which operate in certain domains. Those which are the most known in the
context of media can be classified in three categories:
 Social codes – verbal codes (phonological, syntactical, lexical, prosodic and
paralinguistic subcodes
- Bodily codes (bodily contact, proximity, physical orientation, facial
expression, gestures and posture
- commodity codes (fashion, clothing, cars)
- behavioral codes (protocols, rituals)

 Textual codes - (scientific codes, aesthetic codes in poetry, painting, music etc.),
Genre, rhetorical, stylistic codes, mass media codes including
Photography, television, radio, newspaper and magazine codes

 Interpretative codes – perceptual codes of visual expression, ideological codes such

Individualism, capitalism, feminism, liberalism, racism,
Socialism, consumerism

The art of communicating by using symbols implies a process through which the signs pass
through a system image from the designer’s conceptual model to the user’s mental model. This
process happens unconsciously in our mind and when trying to decode an image, two persons might
look to the same object, but they can see different things as each person’s values and knowledge
modify the information received distorting the reality and giving it a personal representation. To
outline this process I would include an illustration which emphasizes the parts of our mind which
contribute to decoding the signs we receive. (Daniel Chandler, online article)

43
 CHAPTER IV
Case Study: Electoral Views in Romania and in the USA

4.1. Brief Survey of the Two Political Regimes

In order to make a comparison between the two countries, there are certain aspects that should be
drawn, as the differences regarding the two political systems are very significant. From my point of
view, there are also a lot of distinctions concerning the quality of the debates and of discourses, the
clarity of the messages sent to the electorate and also their coherence. These are the main reasons for
which I consider that an investigation in the each state’s history is necessary, with an emphasis over
the fact that in the United States democracy has been lasting for 200 years whereas Romania has
undergone many regimes after 1918 and has been a democratic country since the revolution from
1989 (20 years of democracy).

4.1.1. Romania
Looking back in time at Romania’s history, it can be noticed that our country confronted with many
invaders who wanted to conquer our territories and to benefit from the richness of the natural
resources. Therefore, the Romanian people always fought fiercely to defend our land and never
intended to take control over other countries. After years of wars and revolutions, Romania
strengthened its position on 1st December 1918 when it became a national unitary state as
Transilvania united with Romania at Alba Iulia. Romania participated in both the First World War
and the Second World War and in 1944, after signing the armistice treaty with URSS, Romania
entered under its influence. Furthermore, in December 1947, King Mihai abdicated and it was
proclaimed the Romanian Popular Republic which had as a principle the fact that the power of the
state is in the hands of its citizens.
The Constitution of 1952 implemented another institutional reform through which it was
implemented the Stalinist regime and which imposed a single party: The Romanian Communist
Party (Partidul Român Comunist - PCR). The leaders of the communist party were Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej (1955-1965) and Nicolae Ceauşescu (1965-1989). (Bârdan, Alexandra, 2001:57-58)
In this perspective, Nicolae Ceauşescu was the most important figure and its regime was based on
the union between the party and state (He was not only a state secretary of the Romanian

44
Communist Party, but also the President of the Republic ). Nicolae Ceauşescu imposed a drastic
regime trying to industrialize the country in a short time with no regard for the real needs of the
people. This regime was followed by more periods of transition until the implementation of a
democratic constitutional structure. After the communist regime ended, The National Salvation
Front (Frontul Salvării Naţionale - FSN) took the control becoming the supreme organ of the state.
Secondly, in 1989 was established the new name of the country would be Romania and that the
system of government would be the Republic. In 1992, there were many candidates for the
presidency of Romania, but the favorites were Ion Iliescu (the National Salvation Front) and Emil
Constantinescu (Romanian Democratic Convention – Convenţia Democrată Română - CDR). Ion
Iliescu won the elections and after this period appeared many political parties such as the Social
Democratic Party from Romania (PDSR), Greater Romania Party (PRM), Socialist Labour Party
(PSM), Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in
Romania. In 2004, the elections were won by Traian Băsescu, a president who knew how to become
popular among the citizens. (Florin Abraham, 2006:43-72)
Furthermore, in Romania the political parties form alliances before and after the elections
and this had become a common thing. In my opinion, this is a political strategy as the interest of a
party which lost the elections is to make an alliance with the wining party in order to form the
majority in the Parliament. For instance, after the elections from 2004 the Liberal Democratic Party
allied with the National Liberal Party having as a purpose to be more powerful in the Govern.
Nevertheless, as the Liberal Democratic Party retired from governing, the National Liberal Party
remained in minority, but they were supported by another powerful party from Romania, the Social
Democratic Party which has the majority in the Parliament. My prediction would be that, in the
context of a country where the politicians and the parties concentrate on the conflicts rather than on
the problems of the society, after the presidential elections from 2009, the Social Democratic Party
would retire from the alliance as the programs of the two parties do not correspond. Therefore,
among the politicians from the parties appear divergences and this seriously affects their methods of
governing.
Taking into consideration the years when Romania had a communist leader, I would say that,
presently, our country is not entire democratic as the influences of the communist regime are still
existent. This is the major reason of distinction between Romania and the United States and the
difference is not felt only in the system, but also in the way of thinking of the citizens. For this
reason, I would say that the Romanian electorate is diverse regarding the age and also the political
options because of the continuous changes of the political regimes from the country and I would
45
divide it into three categories. The first category includes the citizens who lived during the regime of
the inter-war period, during the communist regime and who also know what the present democracy
entails. The second category includes those citizens who were born and educated in the communist
regime and who have been living in a democratic regime since 1990, a regime which is not
consolidated and where there are many economical, political and social conflicts. These citizens
keep living with the melancholy of the communist regime. The third category includes those persons
who were born after 1989, who have the right to vote and who live in a democratic regime without
having any knowledge of the communist regime.

4.1.2. The United States

In the USA, the history, the system and the citizen’s way of perceiving the world are totally different
from Romania. Firstly, the United States of America has been a democratic country since September
17, 1787 the date when the Constitution was ratified. Therefore, for the American people the
concept of democracy is far more advanced than for the Romanian people. The Constitution
represents the most important legal document in the United States and “it must be looked at from the
point of view of its impact on the evolution of the past and present human rights movement”. (Silvia
Irimiea, 2002: 11).
The most important participants in the constitution-making process were Alexander
Hamilton and James Madison who is considered the father of the American Constitution. Therefore,
he subjected the reform of the Constitution to the “Virginia Plan”, and his ingenuous idea was that
the people should “delegate authority both to the national government and to the states”. This
process of making the Constitution encountered several problems and the major one was the fact
that appeared two opposite parties: the federalists and the anti-federalists. The first party wanted that
a central power to be created whereas the opposite party sustained that if a strong and powerful
government was formed, it would “fall into the hands of interest-groups who would eventually
oppress the people and deprive them of their basic rights”. (Silvia Irimiea, 2002: 12). Therefore, the
contrary ideas of the two opposite parties gave rise to many compromises and one of the most
relevant concessions is that of slavery. It is important to know that it was not condemned, and the
slaves were given the right to vote. Another major step in the constitution-making process is
represented by the constitutional act, The “Bill of Rights” (under this name are known the first ten
amendments of the Constitution). This document contains amendments to the Constitution intended
to restrict the federal power and it was initiated by the federalists when the anti-federalists said that

46
the Constitution did not mention anything concerning the individual right. The Bill of Rights
prohibits the Congress to establish an official religion, guarantees to every citizen the right to bear
arms, prohibits the federal government from depriving any person of liberty, life or property without
due process of law, it requires that the grand jury must indict any capital or “infamous crime”,
guarantees a speedy public trial having an impartial jury, prohibits the cruel punishments and states
that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people”.
Furthermore, the USA is a federal state with a federal government which exercises control
over the entire nation. The concept of federalism refers to a “form of political organization in which
the governmental power is divided between a central government and territorial subdivisions in the
US, among the federal and state governments”. (Nathan R., Hoffman, E., 1996 cited in Irimiea,
Silvia, 2002: 25). According to Richard Nathan and Erik Hoffman (1996), the four aims of
federalism are: “to protect against abuses and arbitrariness by the central government, to enhance
participation of citizens in the political process within and between various organs of government, to
increase the policymaking and administrative efficiency of government through regional
competition, to stimulate innovative socio-economic, scientific, technological, and cultural-
educational policies by regional governments”. Moreover, in the United States of America there are
two powerful parties (the Democratic Party and the Republican Party) which benefit from a very
well-organized system. On the one hand, the Republican Party is also called the Grand Old Party
(GOP) and sustains a conservative or center-right platform. The republicans sustain the fact that the
Constitution should be interpreted strictly according to the original and also emphasize the role of
free market for a prosperous economy. On the other hand, the Democratic Party supports a liberal or
center-left platform. They sustain a progressive tax structure in order to reduce injustice and to
provide more services.
In this survey regarding the evolution of the two political systems, I set out to emphasize the
fact that regardless of the fact that the both countries have a democratic system, the major
differences come from each state’s history. In my opinion, the fact that in Romania the history of the
constitutionalism had to pass through many stages because of the foreign domination and the
influence of some powerful countries over the political, social and economical issues, it determined
important changes regarding the political regimes, the constitutions and therefore, the electoral laws.
In contrast, the US did not confront with wars on its territory and this fact allowed the democratic
regime and the society to be in a permanent evolution and economical development. Nevertheless, I
have found a resemblance between the two countries regarding the way of perceiving things. Firstly,
47
it is well-known the fact that in America, once with the first colonies also came the Afro-Americans
and that slavery was practiced for a long period of time. Even though in 1864 was adopted the law
for abolishing the slavery, it took almost 200 for the Americans to forget the racial hate and to
accept the Afro-Americans as their compatriots. Secondly, Romania passes through a similar
situation concerning the democratic system. It will take some years for the Romanian people to
understand the concept of democracy and to behave accordingly, only when there would remain the
generations born after 1989 because, as long as, there would be citizens with communist ideas, it
would be hard for them to adapt to the democratic system. In both cases the problems regard the
human’s perception and their mentality. The fact that presently the US has an Afro-American
president, Barack Obama, demonstrates that the American people managed to view the black people
as their compatriots and not as inferior persons, and I think that this is also illustrated in Obama’s
inaugural discourse as he did not speak about the racial hate, but he mentioned the fact that the
emigrants who came in America worked hardly every day and together put the basis of the United
States.

4.2. Political Marketing

4.2.1. Political Life before the Electoral Campaign in 2004 (Traian Băsescu)
The electoral year 2004 confronted with many overturning situations especially because the
candidate who won entered in the competition for the presidency with only two months before the
elections. The presidential elections from 2004 took place in a different political and constitutional
context as those from 2000. The reason for this situation arose from the fact that the Constitution
which was revised in 2003 clarified the relation of the president with the prime-minister, meaning
that the president does not have the power to revoke the leader of the cabinet. Another important
change refers to the fact that the president’s mandate was prolonged on a period of 5 years, and this
was a consequence of the fact that, at that time there was a wish to separate the presidential elections
from the parliamentary elections.
Nevertheless, the most important changes appeared in the distribution of power on the
political scene. After the Social Democratic Party from Romania (transformed in the Social
Democratic Party – Partidul Social Democratic - PSD) won the elections in 2000, it dominated the
Romanian political scene until June 2004, when took place the local elections. These elections
established a balance of the political scene and its bipolarization between the Social Democratic

48
Party and the alliance D.A. (the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Party). Therefore, it
seemed that the electoral competition is given between Adrian Năstase, president of the Social
Democratic Party and Theodor Stolojan, president of the National Liberal Party. Adrian Năstase
initiated a dynamic campaign helped by the press and, according with the inquiries, he succeded to
outrun his contracandidate, Theodor Stolojan. Being phisically exhausted, Theodor Stolojan retired
from the competition. It is interesting that, immediately after this change, the president of the
Democratic Party, Traian Băsescu, invoked a „blackmail” of the power against Theodor Stolojan.
Therefore, only two months before the presidential elections, takes place a significant change, as the
mayor of Bucharest, Traian Băsescu enters in the competition for Cotroceni Palace. It is hard to
explain the reason for which, Adrian Năstase, who had with 700.000 votes more than Traian
Băsescu, lost the presidential elections. It is possible that his defeat was caused by the theory of
Băsescu who argued that the elections were defalcated. (Florin Abraham, 2006: 72-78)

4.2.2. Political Life before the Electoral Campaign in 2008 (Barack Obama)
In the United States, the situation is different with regard to the election of the president, as he is not
elected directly by the voters as in Romania. Surprisingly, it is an institution called the “Electoral
College” which makes the decision concerning the elected president. As the US is a federal state, the
president visits all the countries in order to obtain as more votes as possible.
With reference to the political background before the electoral campaign from 2008 of
Barack Obama, it is known that the country started to confront with many political, social and
especially economic problems. The fact that the US was involved in many conflicts with countries
such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Palestine generated enormous expenses and the money were
taken from the state budget. All these had as a consequence the economic crisis for which the US is
still looking solutions. In one of his speeches Barack Obama declared that those who are guilty of
starting this crisis will pay. Invoking this idea, Obama attracted more voters on his side.
A final aspect that contributed to the election of Barack Obama as a president is the fact that
the democrats had two representatives (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) whereas the republicans
had one representative (John McCain). When Hillary Clinton saw that loses ground, left the
competition for the White House and, as she also was a democrat all her votes went to Barack
Obama.

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4.2.3. Building the Image of the Candidate, the Program and Formulating the
Messages

4.2.3.1. The Image of Traian Băsescu

Regardless of his position, Traian Băsescu was a well-liked politician and the reason may consist in
his capacity of making a distinction between his life as a politician and his life as a citizen of
Romania. As I mentioned above, he entered in the competition for the presidency only two months
before the elections. I consider that the way he built the path through victory was a premeditated
strategy which, finally, proved to be successful. It is interesting to see that after one of the
candidates, Theodor Stolojan retired from the competition, Traian Băsescu started to accuse Adrian
Năstase of blackmail against the DA alliance. Moreover, another step in convincing the citizens to
vote him is re presented by the fact that he built his electoral campaign on the idea that he would be
a president totally different from his predecessors, an active politician, “a player president” rather
than a spectator. The theme of his electoral campaign was the fight against corruption, the positive
dimension was conceived on the motive of welfare and his slogan was „Să trăiţi bine!” (“Have a
good life!”).

4.2.3.1.1. Political Opponents to Presidency

The favorite candidate from that year was Adrian Năstase who tried to win the elections through a
complex electoral campaign based on: his succeses as prime minister (the adhesion of Romania to
NATO, obtaining the right for the Romanian citizens to travel in Schengen space without presenting
an official endorsement, building 400 sport halls, the economical raise from the years of his mandate
etc.), the alliance with Ion Iliescu under the slogan „Together for Romania’s future” which had as
target the attraction of the countryside electorate, the alliance with Mircea Geoană with the intention
of attracting the youngers from towns and he also based on his abilities of political leader (president
of the Social Democratic Party).
The third candidate for the presidency was Corneliu Vadim Tudor who entered in the
electoral campaign having certain disadvantages as he was categorized as being an extremist and
anti-semitic. Therefore, he made efforts in order to democratize his speeches but the results were
inconclusive and for this reason he decided to leave the competition in spite of the request made by

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Adrian Năstase who asked him to remain in the rivalry because the departure of Corneliu Vadim
Tudor was in favour for Traian Băsescu.
The electoral campaign had specific strategies due to the different conceptions of the two
candidates. Consequently, Adrian Năstase based on a positive campaign trying to highlight his
achievments as president of theGovern and attempting to counteract the direct disputes with his
contracandidate. Traian Băsescu adopted a different strategy, making efforts to give the impression
that he is irresistible and he continuosuly tried to provoke his opponent to direct disputes on TV
shows. The courage is one of his principal political qualities, nonetheless this brought him
displeasures when declaring that he sustains the marriages between the homosexuals and that 20%
from Romania’s population is homosexual. Another point would be that another difference
regarding the campaign strategies of the two candidates consists in the type of the target electorate.
On the one hand, Adrian Năstase and the alliance PSD+PUR (the Social Democratic Party and the
Romanian Humanist Party) wanted to maintain their sympathizers for convincing them to vote, and
for this reason they used calm messages and the themes from Adrian Năstase’s speeches were those
regarding the stability and the continuity. On the other hand the electorate of Traian Băsescu was
more heterogeneous and unpredictable, and as a result the urban electorate with high incomes was
insufficient to win the elections. Hence, for attracting the electorate of Corneliu Vadim Tudor,
Traian Băsescu used a popular language with populist characteristics in some place identical with
that of Vadim Tudor (the term “people” was often used in his speeches and the tone was redeeming:
“the decapitation of a corrupt minister”).
Other electoral strategy used by the two opponents and which should be pointed, refers to
their international image. Thus, Adrian Năstase wanted to convince the electorate that his personal
relations with important political leaders from West (Tony Blair – English Prime Minister, Silvio
Berlusconi – Italian Prime Minister, Günther Verheugen – European commissary) can be useful for
Romania. Traian Băsescu tried to fill his lack of diplomatic experience by attacking his opponent. In
this sense, he realized a campaign accusing Adrian Năstase of obtaining the support of those leaders
and of the European Union by “purchasing” their benevolence throughout some contracts.
The final results of the poll from 28th November 2004 were: Adrian Năstase – 40, 94%,
Traian Băsescu – 33, 92%, Corneliu Vadim Tudor – 12, 57%. The second poll of the presidential
elections took place after Traian Băsescu contested the results and required the organization of new
elections. Thus, after the poll from 12th December 2004, from a total percentage of 55, 21% were
obtained the following results: Traian Băsescu 51, 23% and Adrian Năstase 48, 77%. (Florin
Abraham, 2006: 75-78).
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4.2.3.1.2. Electoral Platform of D.A. Alliance

In 2004, the „D.A.” alliance of the National Democratic Party and the Democratic Party promised a
better life for the Romanian citizens, consequently, their electoral platform contained especially
educational problems they wanted to solve if Traian Băsescu was elected president. The major
problem that was discussed was the depolitizacion of the educational system, according to the
European standards: eliminating the political encroachments from the system of promoting the
teaching staff. Another promise was connected to the fact that the schools and the high schools will
receive autonomy for elaborating educational programs, for hiring new staff and also for using the
financial resources in order to differentiate the incomes. Other objectives of the D.A. alliance were:
improving the quality of the education in rural areas, bringing the educational system from Romania
to the level of that from the European countries, ensuring the equal access to education regardless of
social, religious and ethnic affiliation, reducing the number of students from each class to 25 and
diversifying the methods of teaching by introducing a more practical system. Furthermore, they
based on many programs for supporting the youngsters from Romania by according funds for the
construction of new hostels for students, more private scholarships and financial advantages for the
younger person who start a business. (official site of D.A. alliance)

4.2.3.1.3. Promoting Strategies

Felix Tătaru (general director of Gmp/MAP Romania) said that the electoral campaign of Traian
Băsescu extended on five media components: press, TV, outdoor, events and Internet, from which
the last proved to be the most efficient component”. The online campaign of Traian Băsescu was the
most spectacular and impressive campaign ever made in Romania. Surprisingly, 1 of 5 citizens from
Bucharest pressed a banner or the pop-under of this online campaign.
When entering in the competition for the presidential elections, Traian Băsescu needed a
place for developing his messages which could be seen everywhere (on the street, in buses) and
which needed support, arguments. Therefore, the Internet proved to be the ideal place for sustaining
the image of Băsescu and his electoral campaign, and it was realized the site basescu.ro. One of his
slogan was: „Singur fac multe, Cu un consiliu fac totul!”(„I can do much by myself, but with a

52
Counsel I can do Everything!”) and the words „much” and „everything” represented the base of
building the site. „Much” signifies the accomplishments from 2000-2004 with the Social
Democratic Party and „Everything” refers to his strategy from 2004-2008 with a supporting
Counsel.

Figure 4. Online Presidential Campaign

Source: http://www.markmedia_ro.htm

For realizing this original campaign there were taken into consideration three aspects: the pepper
represented the image of the brand, Băsescu was a funny, open-minded and ironic person and for
succeeding the site should have been special and original. Consequently, appeared the game “Winn
with the pepper!” which had a simple rule: he player had to transport at least 28 Cancellers to the
Town hall. The game also presented the main points of the electoral platform of Traian Băsescu and
it had an impact on the mind of the player as it unconsciously suggested to the player that he must
go to vote as the election of those cancellers depends also on his choice. Moreover, for increasing
the interest, there were offered prizes 1000 t-shirts with electoral messages. The statistics are
amazing as over 12000 people played the game and the site registered 500000 visitors and 290000
displays in only one week.

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4.2.3.2. The Image of Barack Obama
In the US, the electoral campaign lasts two years whereas in Romania the politicians begin their
electoral campaigns only two months before the elections. From my point of view, Traian Băsescu’s
approach over the electoral campaign was a well-organized strategy but, by accusing the other
competitor of blackmail he did not act with fair-play. He won the elections, became a popular
president among the citizens from Romania, but in time his reputation was compromised by the fact
that he was not an apolitical president and his image had to suffer as he was always in conflict with
the prime minister Călin Popescu Tăriceanu instead of persevering in solving the problems that our
country confronts with.
In contrast, the American president Barack Obama is a well-balanced person and he won the
elections on his own and not by appearing in press accusing the other candidates. His electoral
campaign did not begin with two years before the elections, but with seven years in advance. It is
known that he benefited from a powerful promoting campaign on the Internet, but it is the serial
“24” broadcasted by Fox which unconsciously suggested the citizens that an Afro-American could
be their president. It was an ingenuous and at the same time an original campaign which paved the
road of Barack Obama to the White House. The film registered high ratings and was broadcasted in
six seasons (symbolically these represented six days from America’s “life”) and each season had 24
episodes (each episode presented an hour from the respective day). The first season of the TV series
started to be broadcasted on 6th November, 2001 and the action of the film consists in political
conspiracies, antiterrorist fights and also it presents the election of the American presidents. One of
them is an Afro-American, his name is David Palmer and he wears at the right hand a bracelet which
resemblance with the one that Obama has on his hand. The actor which interpreted this role is
Dennis Haysbert and in an interview he declared that: “From public’s point of view, this film
opened a path in their minds according to which an Afro-American could be the new president of
the United States. I think that we both have a similar opinion about what involves the function of
president. Barack is not a choleric person, he has a well-balanced character. I depict my character
David Palmer as being very intelligent and as a person who knows how to control his emotions”.

4.2.3.2.1. Political Opponents for Presidency

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Obama had two major political opponents: Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Hillary Clinton was a
democrat as Obama and the fact that she quite the competition for presidency represented an
advantage for Barack Obama as all her votes went to him.
Other powerful opponent was the republican John McCain who had a well-organized
political platform based on the principles sustained by the Republican Party. Therefore, his policy
included 9 points meant to preserve the freedom, liberty and prosperity of the United States and to
fight for defending their principles. The proposed objectives of the republicans are the following:
“Defending Our Nation, Supporting Our Heroes, Securing the Peace”, “Reforming Govern to Serve
the People”, “Expanding Opportunity to Promote Prosperity”, “Energy Independence and Security”,
“Environmental Protection”, “Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First”, “Education Means a
More Competitive America”, “Protecting Our Families”, “Preserving our values”. Their program
was strictly organized and debates all the problems of the US, emphasizes the preservation of the
traditional values, nevertheless this represented a disadvantage in comparison with Barack Obama
who based his electoral campaign on the word “change”.

4.2.3.2.2. Democratic National Platform

In my opinion, the political platform of the democrats is more convincing as their objectives regard
a promise of a change and for this reason their electoral program “Renewing America’s Promise” is
based on four main points which make reference to something new: “Renewing the American
Dream”, “Renewing American Leadership”, “Renewing the American Community” and “Renewing
American Democracy”.
The first point “Renewing the American Dream” emphasizes that the current crisis and the
economical transformation affect drastically the United States, and it is stated that a new
government is needed to stand up for the values, the interests and the hopes of the working people
and to improve the health care system by providing incentives for innovation, investing in
biomedical research and stem cell research. The Democrats promise good jobs and better paid,
highlighting that Bush Administration failed to protect the American workers; they also sustain that
it will be raised the minimum wage and increase the Earned Income Tax so that workers can support
themselves and their families. The Party believes that the fight against poverty must be national
priority and that they want to offer more opportunities for women, to fight against sexism and
intolerance and for convincing the electorate the example of Hillary Rodham Clinton is given, as she

55
was the first woman in America’s history to win presidential primaries. Another promise regards the
Educational system which will be noticeably improved.
The second objective refers to “Renewing American Leadership” and the democrats
underline the idea of putting an end to the war in Iraq, defeating Al Qaeda, combating terrorism and,
if possible seeking a new partnership with Pakistan. All these measure will be taken to strengthen
America’s security and to ensure a peaceful life to its citizens. The third point “Renewing the
American Community” encourages people to invest in America as to create opportunities for
international service and for experienced and retired persons to work. In this part, the democrats
promise to prevent and respond to future natural catastrophes and also to restore the communities
affected by floods in 2008.
In the last part of the political platform “Renewing American Democracy” the democrats
promise a new democratic system with an ethical government, the restoration of the constitutional
traditions and the protection of the Constitutional right of every American to vote. At the end, they
promise to seek for partnerships with civic institutions and with other states to which the govern will
provide temporary funding. (2008 Republican Electoral Platform, online article).

4.2.3.2.3. Promoting Strategies

The path of Obama through the White House represents an innovative electoral campaign with
interesting marketing strategies. It should be taken into consideration the fact that the presidential
elections from the US took place under the situation of economic crisis and of the wars in which the
country was involved. The advantage of Obama was the fact that he was black and coming with the
idea of “change”, it is interesting to see that his image matched, as when looking at him, one could
see the change as compared to the other candidates. Moreover, Barack Obama believed in team
work, as he made a company to act having the same objectives “We are one” or “Yes we can”. His
quality of having a well-balanced personality contributed to his election, as during certain TV
debates, in spite of the fact that McCain was aggressive and sometimes lost his temper, Obama was
self-confident, calm always answered the questions on a balanced tone.
Having excellent communication skills, he was also original concerning the fact that his team
made a brand from the name “Obama” beginning with the concept of the symbol “O” as a rising sun
over the United States. It should be also pointed his ability of organizing the electoral campaign, and
he recognized this when saying “When I started this campaign […] I wasn’t sure I was going to be
the best of candidates. But what I was absolutely positive of was that there was the possibility of

56
creating the best organization. The way great things happen is when people are willing to submerge
their own egos and focus on a common task. That’s my old organizing mind-set. It’s not just a
shtick. I actually believe in it”.

4.2.3.2.4. Media Campaign

Barack’s Obama campaign is most know for the use of technology, especially of the Internet
through which Obama made his political ideologies and policies known. The target public on the
Internet had the age between 18 and 29 years old, and it is important that Obama realized the reason
for which younger voters tend to ignore politicians and politics: because politicians tended to ignore
the issues which more concerned them, and for this reason Obama received a positive feedback from
the youngsters from the US. Using forums and websites such as MySpace, Facebook (with two and
a half million fans), Twitter (100.000 fans), YouTube, adverts Xbox Live Games, IPhone
application which helped contacting friends to support Obama. Moreover, the Internet donation
campaigns using BarackObama.com as a small donation website from many people totaled to
hundred of millions of dollars.
Regardless of the original idea of suggesting the electorate by broadcasting a TV serial that
the new president of the United States could be an Afro-American, Barack Obama was intensively
promoted on the Internet. Furthermore, his image became a brand and it is interesting to notice that
when typing on Google the word “change”, the majority of the links displayed were about Obama.
For a better understanding of Obama’s popularity on the Internet, I would include a scale
representing the traffic of Barack Obama.

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Figure 5. The traffic of Barack Obama from United Kingdom in2008
Source: online powerpoint

The logo of Obama’s electoral campaign is the most known for the original concept it
invokes. It represents a circle with wavy lines suggesting a sun rising over fields in colors of the
American flag designed by a team from Senders LLC, and according to Sol Sender “We were
looking at the “o” of his name and had the idea of a rising sun and a new day”. The slogan of his
campaign is “Yes We Can” and represents Obama’s team spirit as he always says that only together
with the citizens the success will be guaranteed.
The presidential campaign song was composed by Joss Stone as she appeals across racial
boundaries and Obama’s campaign inspired other artists to create more music than any other
candidate in American political history. For instance, Will.i.am from the band Black-Eyed Peas
composed the song “Yes We Can”, Ruwanga Samath and Maxwell D. wrote the song “Make it to

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the Sun”, JFC composed “Barack Obama” and “Unite the Nation” by the Greek-American hi hop
group Misa/Misa.
Regarding his TV advertisements, it should be emphasized the fact that Obama started his
electoral campaign with a biographical commercial in which he emphasized his patriotism. The
advertisements were broadcasted in 18 states and his 30-minute spot “American Stories, American
Solutions” run on NBC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC, TV One, Univision and BET concentrating on many
issues including health and taxation. ABC was the only major US network that did not show the
advertisement being indecisive. The Obama team bought a channel on Dish Network to screen
Obama ads 24/7.

4.2.3.2.5. Negative Publicity

Nevertheless, Barack Obama had to confront with a rough negative publicity as he was the target of
many campaigns which had the purpose of denigrating his image. Those campaigns were promoted
on the Internet and the attacks were connected with the fact that his second name is Hussein or that
he is a Muslim (Obama denied all this speculations and declared that he is a Christian). Another
attack which put him in a difficult situation made reference to the fact that the “Forbes” magazine
published an article in which speculated the fact that Obama could be the “expected warrior” who
would come to help the Shiite Muslims to conquer the world.
Moreover, it was published a photography made when Obama visited his cousin from Kenya
and the fact that in that picture he wears a turban made that the suppositions according to which he
is a Muslim increase. To sustain this idea, an official site from Iran published a text from 17 th
century reporting that Imam Ibn-Talib (the cousin of the prophet Mohamed) said that “a tall and
black person would take the power in West. The new leader would bring signs from the third imam,
whose name is Hussein Ibn Ali.” The most interesting part comes by deciphering the signification of
Barack Obama’s name in Arabian and Persian. In these languages Barack Hussein signifies “the
blessing of Hussein”. His last name Obama, written in Persian alphabet “O Ba Ma” signifies “he is
with us” (this is the message from the Shiite texts).

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4.3. Semiotic Analysis Applied on Political Publicity

4.3.1. Barack Obama

To illustrate the power of image in the process of seducing the population, I have chosen to make a
semiotic analysis of some political posters used by Barack Obama and Traian Băsescu in their
electoral campaigns in order to demonstrate that communicating messages by using codes and signs
represents an art which is intensively used in the process of political communication. Moreover, this
domain is representative for semiotics as in the posters there is being used a codified visual and
written language which has the role of transmitting unconscious messages to the electorate.

Figure6. Banners from Barack’s Obama Presidential Campaign

When trying to make a semiotic analysis, it should be taken into consideration certain
aspects, and Harold Lasswell suggests the following questions: “Who?”, “Says what?”, “In which
channel?”, “To whom?”, “With what effect?”. He considers that these elements are essential for a
better understanding of the communicational process regardless of its form.
It is obvious that in this case, Barack Obama is the transmitter of the message which is
addressed to the electorate. Beginning from the moment when Barack Obama entered in the
competition for the White House it is evident that he became a brand and his image is the most
popular representation of the 21st century. For this reason and for the fact that his picture is used
everywhere, he is considered to be a pop icon the same as Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Michael
Jackson, Jackie Kennedy. In my view, this happened not only because an Afro-American wanted to
become the president of the United States, but also for his original and intensively promoted

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electoral campaign. In this sense, the promoting campaign on the Internet brought him a large
number of votes, the same as the promises he invoked especially when saying that he represents the
“change”. Therefore, he is not seen only as a “brand”, but also as a “God”, “a Savior” of the US and
even of the world.
Nevertheless, the publicity represents a type of communication based on signs with different
significations which have the purpose to unconsciously manipulate people’s mind. Regarding this
aspect, politicians use the visual communication for persuading and attracting the electorate. Making
a close analysis of Obama’s posters, billboards and his TV apparitions, it can be noticed that with
regards to the language implemented, he continuously uses four words “we”, “can”, “change”, and
“hope”. In my opinion the word “change” represents a semiotic code and it is significant for the
theme of his electoral campaign which is based on it. Consequently, the message transmitted
contains an articulated code (a vocabulary of basic units with syntactical rules) which generates
meaningful combinations and in this case the entire sense is connected with the idea that together
(both the president and the citizens) we can change the world in better. The slogan of Obama’s
electoral campaign is also used in domains such as sports, music, language, literature etc. and
represents a combination of three words in which “yes” is an adverb that indicates agreement or
affirmation whereas “we” (first person plural noun) denotes a collective force or unity, and “can”, a
modal auxiliary verb suggests ability, possibility, permission, request, prediction, opportunity.
Moreover, The Global Language Monitor said: “Obama’s “Yes we can” speech ranked in tone, tenor
and rhetoric with memorable political addresses of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a Dream” and
Ronald Reagan’s ”Tear Down this Wall”.
On a denotative level, the above pictures clearly represent the face of a politician who
promotes his image using the banner as a method of attracting the electorate. However, on a
connotative level, it makes us think of Obama as a powerful man and due to the colors implemented
(the blue background and the white letters) he could be seen as a “Savior”. Hence, the colors are
important when analyzing a publicity poster as they have power to influence, to catch the attention
and to induce certain messages in people’s mind. At first sight it can be noticed that the colors used
are representative as they are the same with those from the national flag of the United States. The
message becomes more convincing as the face of Obama from the second poster is painted with red
and blue, the main colors of the American flag. By using this strategy, Barack Obama suggests the
idea that he is a patriot, and that he loves his country. Nevertheless, in both images as well it can be
seen the logo of Obama’s electoral campaign which resemblances surprisingly well with the logo
used by Pepsi company.
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 Obama’s logo Old logo of Pepsi New logo of Pepsi

Figure 7. Oabama’s Logo vs. the Logo of Pepsi

As it can be observed in the above images, there are used the same colors, wavy lines and the
same shape. There is the possibility that this logo was intentionally created so people would
associate the image of Obama with Pepsi as it is known that since 1903, Pepsi has been a brand with
tradition in the US. With regards to the mythological level, I would say that the symbolic part of the
first picture makes reference to America’s cultural values and ideals and it suggests the idea of the
“American dream”. Personally, when seeing the photo for the first time, I had the impression that
the most important fact is to succeed in life and that America represents “the change” in better.
Furthermore, the first picture combines many single elements which are related to each
other, giving meaning to the message. Firstly, there is a discourse of the image which speaks by
itself and communicates to the electorate that the politician is a friend of the citizens and not a
person who wants to dominate. This is suggested by the fact that Obama smiles friendly and he
adopts a relaxed position of his body, as his hands are crossed and in this case this gesture gives the
impression of a calm and peaceful person. These represent social codes which refer to facial
expression, gestures and posture. Moreover, the costume he wears induces the idea of a respectable
man and the logo which contains the colors from the national flag, gives the impression of a patriot
who loves his country.
In order to draw the attention of all categories of electorate, the political posters, the
language and the message transmitted are simple, contain catchy phrases and words, and the type of
argumentation used is the deduction. This type of inference is based on reasoning which emerges
immediately in the mind of the person who sees the image. Moreover, the figure of Obama can be
considered an archetype, as he became a model followed by many and in this sense the lawyers from
the White House are trying to limit the commercial use of president’s image.
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 The political commercials are as simple as possible in order to seduce the electorate however
the effort for realizing them is considerable as the reality is always encoded because in any culture,
when the publicity passes for reality, it becomes a code of each country’s culture.

4.3.2. Traian Băsescu

Figure 8: Banner from the Presidential Campaign of Traian Băsescu

In the above image, there is an electoral billboard representing Romania’s president, Traian Băsescu
in the electoral campaign from 2004. It should be emphasized the fact that this photography
appeared during his electoral campaign and it could have represented a disadvantage for the image
of Traian Băsescu as there is an enormous difference between the message transmitted and the
reality, nevertheless I will debate on this situation in the following paragraphs.
At first sight and on a denotative level the situation is the same as in Obama’s case since
there can be seen a politician who uses the publicity as a method of seducing the public to vote him.
On a connotative level, we could see a person full of energy and the entire billboard suggests a state

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of excitement. This is given especially by the orange color which is a combination between red and
yellow, therefore it shares common features with those colors. Furthermore, the energy given by this
color comes from the fact that it is found at some fruits such as oranges which are known for
containing Vitamin C, an important resource for our health. Another characteristic of orange would
be that it attracts immediately the attention and in my view it was well chosen as it speaks for itself,
instead of Traian Băsescu who is a talkative person.
Regarding Traian Băsescu’s position of the body, it can be noticed that the social codes he
uses are also friendly, the smile giving the impression of a calm person and the gesture he makes
with his hand is a form of salutation in army and it is known the fact that before involving in politics
he was a sailor. It is an interesting strategy as when looking at this billboard, a person might have
the impression that the politician friendly greets him/her. Moreover, it has a strong impact as the
person who watches might have the tendency to return Traian Basescu’s bow.
The language attracts especially by the slogan used „Să trăiţi bine!“ (“Have a good life!”)
which makes reference to the living standards from Romania. As our country is known to have the
smallest incomes, the biggest prices therefore a low living standard, Traian Băsescu, through his
electoral slogan, makes a promise to the citizens that if he is elected president, than the economic
situation of the country will improve and we will live in better conditions. In addition, there is used a
pun for highlighting firstly the fact that Traian Băsescu is the politician who should be our president,
secondly for underlining the parties he represents (the DA alliance of the National Democratic Party
and the Democratic Party). Thus, the first situation arises from the sentence “Aşa DA Preşedinte!”,
where “DA” refers to the alliance of the two political parties. However, the photo of the political
billboard and the poor man who sleeps below the commercial raises many questions regarding the
social and economic situation of our country and it represented a disadvantage for Traian Băsescu as
it was put on the Internet during his electoral campaign. The reason for which I have chosen this
photo is represented by the fact that in Romania the real life is in a total opposition with the reality
that the politicians try to present it. When seeing this image the mind of the viewer unconsciously
relates the words from the slogan “Have a good life!” with the poor man and, immediately in our
mind takes place the process of deduction through which we are able to understand the contrast.
In spite of some negative aspects of Traian Băsescu’s electoral campaign, he was elected as
president because his popularity continuously increased due to the “crowd baths” and to his unique
methods of approaching citizens and situations. Nevertheless, presently, Băsescu is not popular
anymore among people because of the conflicts he had with some politicians and for the fact that
during his mandate as president he sustained certain political parties, was not apolitical.
64
 As a conclusion, I would say that after Barack Obama was elected president, he started to
accomplish his duties, making the first steps for ending the wars in Middle East. Therefore, after
several weeks from his elections, he declared in public the retreat of some troops from Iraq. On the
other hand, Traian Băsescu lost his popularity due to his continuing conflicts with some politicians
and to the fact that he did not respect the Romanian Constitution. At this moment he attacks the
most important institutions from our country, accusing their leaders. Another major thing that should
be taken into account is that he continues to infringe his duties as a president and the Constitution. In
this sense, he infringes one of the most important articles of the Constitution, the separation of
powers, by interfering in the judicial system, entering in conflict with The Superior Council of
Magistracy.

Conclusion

65
Considering the title of my work “The Role of Publicity in Presidential Campaigns –an insight view
over political communication-”, this paper examines various elements related to political
communication, emphasizing the methods of political marketing with major contribution in the
process of persuading, seducing and manipulating the electorate. Also, the paper investigates current
issues regarding the difference between the American and the Romanian political systems,
developing the idea that even though the political communication implies common features, the
differentiation comes from people’s perception of the social and political reality. Moreover, on the
world political arena, politicians are not only “actors” which pretend to make efforts to improve the
life of the citizens, but they are also “film producers” who direct us from behind the scene, in other
words, manipulate us using the most powerful weapon: mass media. For this reason, it can be said
that the impact of mass media over politics is major, as political actors use it for trying to influence
our perspectives and most of the time they succeed in doing so.
To illustrate what I have previously mentioned in the theoretical section, I underlined the
pattern followed by the politicians in the process of drawing our attention through the means of
communication such as the Internet, the TV, the radio, the print media etc.
The method proposed in this paper, an investigation of the electoral campaigns of Traian
Băsescu and Barack Obama, provides an answer to the three cardinal questions posed by the
Romanian citizens: “why?”, “how are we different?” and “what can we do in order to live as the
Americans?”. Therefore, in the first part of the case study, I realized a short survey of the historical
background of the two countries, emphasizing that Romania is not entirely democratic as the
influences of the communist regime are still persistent and that even though America was in
continuous evolution, it encountered problems concerning racial hate, and it should be noted that it
took 200 for the American people to accept the Afro-Americans as being their compatriots. I
demonstrated that the problem comes from each country’s past and it is strongly related to the
mentality of the people. In this way I gave a response to the three questions, stating that a final
consideration will be that the Romanian people will understand and behave as in a democratic
system only when there would remain the generations born in democracy.
Additionally, in the second section of my case study I approached the particular strategies
used by the two presidents in their electoral campaigns proposing a semiotic analysis for a better
understanding of the manipulating methods through images and language. Thereby, I demonstrated
and argued my opinion that political publicity has as a final target the public manipulation. In my
view, the suggested method of demonstrating this statement has a major impact and all the semiotic
elements applied on the analysis of the two banners represent powerful arguments of this idea.
66
 With reference to the effort of writing this paper I state that it required a thorough
documentation and concrete research over the political communication and the semiotic theory. In
my opinion, all the chapters are interesting and captivating, as some debated aspects shed light on
some insight parts of politics and mass media that are attractive for the reader who can discover
methods to perceive the language behind the image.

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 Rezumat

Având în vedere titlul lucrării mele de licenţă „Rolul publicităţii în campaniile prezidenţiale”,
principala temă abordată este comunicarea politică prin intermediul mijloacelor mass-media având
ca şi scop final evidenţierea metodelor de marketing politic în procesul de persuasiune a
electoratului. De aceea, în studiul de caz al lucrării am făcut o analiză comparativă între campania
prezidenţială a lui Traian Băsescu din 2004 şi cea a lui Barack Obama din 2008. De asemenea, prin
alegerea a două situaţii diferite de campanie electorală am încercat să dau un răspuns la întrebarea
generală pe care şi-o pun mulţi cetăţeni români, şi anume de ce nu putem trăi ca americanii?
Astfel, încă din titlul primului capitol este lansată întrebarea „Poate fi considerată
publicitatea politică o încercare de a manipula cetăţenii?”. Prin urmare, am început lucrarea prin a
reda anumite consideraţii în ceea ce priveşte comunicarea politică, evidenţiind faptul că aceasta se
regăseşte pretutindeni îmbrăcând diferite forme precum afişele stradale, bannere, reclame TV etc.
De asemenea, am precizat faptul că aceasta implică trei dimensiuni importante şi anume
dimensiunea pragmatică (face referire la situaţiile reale de comunicare), dimensiunea simbolică
(rolul simbolic pe care îl au cuvintele în comunicarea politică) şi dimensiunea structurală (tratează
mijloacele prin intermediul cărora se realizează comunicarea politică şi anume radio, televiziune,
presa scrisă, internetul).
Un alt aspect important priveşte actorii politici care sunt principalii pioni ai scenei politice şi
care pot fi împărţiţi în mai multe categorii având ca şi criteriu principal ideologiile politice pe care le
susţin. Aşadar, într-o primă categorie sunt incluse partidele politice ce reprezintă un grup de oameni
care împărtăşesc aceleaşi idei, ideologii politice şi care au acelaşi scop. Un exemplu elocvent în
acest sens ar putea fi cele două partide puternice din Statele Unite: partidul republican (ai cărui
reprezentanţi sunt adepţii unor idei conservatoriste) şi partidul democrat (ai cărui membri susţin
ideile social-liberale). În sprijinul acestor partide vine şi departamentul de relaţii cu publicul care se
ocupă de crearea unei imagini pozitive asupra partidului pe care îl reprezintă prin organizarea de
conferinţe de presă, şi, totodată încearcă să contracareze, atunci când este cazul, imaginea negativă
creată de presă.

73
 Cea de-a doua categorie de actori politici cuprinde sindicatele, grupurile de consumatori şi
organizaţiile publice. Membrii acestor organizaţii nu sunt uniţi de ideologii politice comune, ci mai
cu seamă de anumite caracteristici legate de problemele de muncă.
Cea de-a treia categorie include grupurile de presiune ale căror preocupări sunt constituite în
jurul unei singure probleme precum mediul înconjurător, şi se deosebesc de organizaţiile publice
prin faptul că sunt mai puţin instituţionalizate. Organizaţiile teroriste pot fi considerate şi ele ca
făcând parte din categoria actorilor politici, dar aceste grupuri recurg la terorism pentru a-şi
îndeplini obiectivele. În categoria actelor teroriste sunt incluse atentatele cu bombă, asasinatele,
răpirile. Cele mai cunoscute organizaţii teroriste sunt Hamas şi Hezbollah în Orientul Mijlociu, ETA
în Ţara Bascilor din Spania, IRA în nordul Irlandei şi al-Qaida, organizaţia responsabilă cu atentatul
asupra turnurilor World Trade Center din New York. Chiar dacă acţiunile acestora includ acte de
terorism, aceştia au ca scop transmiterea de mesaje politice unor anumite grupuri de electorat.
În comunicarea politică, principalul rol al mass-media este acela de a informa cetăţenii cu
privire la problemele societăţii, incluzându-le şi pe cele de pe plan politic. Odată cu liberalizarea
presei, funcţiile acesteia s-au multiplicat, iar în procesul de comunicare politică îndeplineşte
următoarele funcţii: prezintă informaţiile publicului, interpretează acţiunile politicienilor,
influenţează opinia electoratului, stabileşte care sunt priorităţile acţiunilor politice, asigură
comunicarea între politicieni şi electorat. Harold Lasswell abordează dintr-un alt punct de vedere
funcţiile mass-media şi le clasifică în trei categorii. Prima este cea de supraveghere a lumii având ca
scop prezentarea evenimentelor de actualitate şi concentrarea pe anumite evenimente, personalităţi,
instituţii. Cea de-a doua funcţie este cea de interpretare a sensului evenimentelor care formează şi
deformează opinia publică asupra celor ce se întâmplă în lumea politică, direcţionând impactul
acestora asupra vieţii indivizilor. Socializarea indivizilor în mediul lor cultural reprezintă cea de-a
treia funcţie în opinia lui Laswell şi care presupune învăţarea principalelor valori în vederea
integrării individului în mediul cultural. Însă, se poate vorbi şi de o a patra funcţie, cea de
manipulare a proceselor politice. Aceasta apare în momentul în care teama individului de izolare îl
determină să accepte anumite convenţii sociale, să facă ceea ce fac şi ceilalţi din jurul său iar în
acest fel opinia publică se transformă într-un factor de control al opţiunilor, ajungând sa fie un
produs acceptat de valorile generale ale societăţii, iar în această situaţie intervine şi rolul acesteia de
manipulare.
În procesul comunicării politice, emiţătorii mesajelor au ca şi scop seducerea sau
persuasiunea electoratului, dar pentru a reuşi acest lucru trebuie să adopte anumite strategii de
marketing pe care le aplică prin intermediul televiziunii, publicităţii, radioului şi a presei scrise. Mai
74
mult decât atât, publicitatea politică formează, promovează şi direcţionează spre anumite grupuri
ţintă imaginea unui partid politic sau a unui candidat. Un aspect particular al publicităţii politice
constă în crearea unui sistem standardizat al acesteia. Această particularizare are rolul de a
transforma politicianul într-un produs deoarece acesta are ca scop final atragerea opiniei publice şi
obţinerea de voturi în urma campaniei electorale. Există trei tipuri de strategii în cadrul acestui
proces: strategia de proiectare, ce presupune realizarea unui proiect de campanie bazat pe sondaje de
opinie, strategia de înştiinţare a opiniei publice prin care proiectul trebuie să fie făcut cunoscut
cetăţenilor şi strategia verbală şi nonverbală care implică limbajul mimico-gestual al actorilor
politici, conferind discursului acestuia un plus de convingere.
Ca orice alt tip de comunicare, cea politică se bazează pe mai multe elemente fixe precum:
emiţător, mesaj, canal de transmitere al mesajului, cod, receptor, context, feed-back, zgomot şi
repertoriul. Astfel, emiţătorul comunicării politice are rolul de a iniţia procesul de comunicare, iar in
cazul acesta emiţătorul este actorul politic ce transmite electoratului mesaje conţinând concepţiile şi
ideologiile sale, având ca scop persuasiunea publicului său. Cel de-al doilea element al comunicării
politice este mesajul, ce este transmis prin intermediul emiţătorului politic şi care scoate în evidenţă
ideologia politică pe care o adoptă. Caracteristicile principale ale mesajului politic sunt informarea şi
convingerea. Canalul de transmitere al mesajului este cel de-al treilea element şi se referă cu
precădere la modul prin care este transmis mesajul politic. Un alt element al comunicării politice
este codul ce reprezintă o enumerare logică de elemente realizată prin folosirea unor „pattern”-uri
bine stabilite care diferă în funcţie de structura mentală a utilizatorilor. Receptorul politic este un
element de bază al comunicării şi este reprezentat de o persoană sau un grup de persoane către care
sunt direcţionate mesajele emiţătorului. De asemenea, aceste persoane trebuie să aibă capacitatea de
a decodifica mesajele primite pentru a putea răspunde la acestea sub forma feed-back-ului.
Contextul se referă la valorile şi regulile pe baza cărora se derulează procesul comunicării politice.
Sursa de zgomot reprezintă un factor important în comunicarea politică, însumând totalitatea
elementelor perturbatoare, fizice sau psihice, care acţionează direct sau indirect, influenţând într-un
fel sau altul procesul de comunicare. Acestea pot fi: intensitatea vocii, lipsa coerenţei discuţiilor,
defecte de vorbire, vorbirea prea lentă sau prea rapidă. Repertoriul constituie ultimul element al
comunicării politice şi care se referă la bagajul de cunoştinţe într-un anumit domeniu, atât al omului
politic (emiţătorul) cât şi al electoratului (receptorul).
Scopul fiecărui politician este acela de a se face apreciat şi de a câştiga cât mai multe voturi.
În vederea realizării acestui obiectiv, actorul politic trebuie să aibă în vedere contextul politic,
economic, social, cultural, iar pentru ducerea la bun sfârşit a acestei acţiuni, procesul trebuie să
75
parcurgă mai multe etape. În prima etapă se stabileşte care este publicul ţintă şi se face o analiză a
acestuia. În acest context se vor identifica indivizii care au un grad mai mare de receptivitate a
programelor politice. Următoarea etapă presupune crearea imaginii actorului politic, care trebuie
promovată în vederea punerii într-o lumină cât mai favorabilă a politicianului. Astfel, pentru ca
imaginea să aibă un impact cât mai mare şi să fie cât mai convingătoare, aceasta trebuie să nu
conţină contradicţii, să fie clară şi să fie recunoscută cu uşurinţă. Din cauza faptului că în prezent
politicienii încearcă să îşi creeze o imagine cât mai originală, se ajunge la viziunea că profilul
acestuia este mai important decât ideologia pe care o reprezintă. În această situaţie, dacă la un
moment dat presa crează o imagine negativă asupra unui politician, atunci, dacă acesta a fost
etichetat ca fiind corupt, imaginea acestuia va avea de suferit pentru totdeauna. Acest sistem este
întâlnit în special în ţările de tranziţie, în care nivelul de trai este mai scăzut şi apare din cauză că
oamenii consideră că bunăstarea politicianului corupt este o cauza a împovărării lor. De aceea, în
aceste ţări oamenii vor admira un om cinstit şi onest, iar dacă acesta dovedeşte faptul că este şi un
bun familist, atunci şi-a câştigat aprecierea electoratului. Pentru crearea unei imagini pozitive este
important ca printre calităţile şi responsabilităţile unui politician trebuie să se regăsească şi
următoarele: să fie în relaţii bune cu presa, să participe la evenimentele mai importante, să respecte
tradiţia şi istoria, să fie deschis la dialog, să aibă capacitatea de a asculta oamenii, de a cunoaşte
realitatea economică şi socială şi cel mai important să se ferească de greşeli. A treia etapă în
procesul comunicării politice o reprezintă lansarea actorului politic şi a programului său. Astfel,
transformarea unui om politic într-un personaj cât mai popular în rândul electoratului se poate
realiza prin intermediul acţiunilor şoc, adică prin bombardarea cetăţenilor cu informaţii despre
actorul politic, sau printr-o prezentare în mai multe etape a oamenilor politici, iar la această
modalitate apelează îndeosebi politicienii care doresc funcţii înalte în stat. Cea de-a patra etapă face
referire la tehnicile de diferenţiere a actorului politic în contrast cu opozanţii. În acest fel, se ajunge
la evidenţierea anumitor aspecte sau chiar la exagerearea unor caracteristici prin care imaginea
candidatului să poată creşte în sondajele de opinie.
Dacă scopul comunicării politice este acela de a realiza o legătură între oamenii politici şi
cetăţeni, atunci rolul acesteia este acela de transmitere a ideilor, ideologiilor politicienilor către
electorat. Prin urmare, comunicarea politică se împarte în funcţie de ideologie şi de imagine în două
părţi: comunicarea politică de tip dialogic şi comunicarea politică de tip marketing. Primul model,
înglobează ideologia omului politic, care analizând problemele sociale sau economice ale societăţii,
sugerează o serie de principii şi de idei prin care să găsească o rezolvare pentru problemele
respective. În acest tip de comunicare, omul politic foloseşte limbajul ideologic pentru a da
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mesajelor un caracter informativ şi cât mai concret şi de asemenea, limbajul operaţional prin care
elementele abstracte sunt transformate în acţiuni politice sesizabile percepute de publicul larg. Cel
de-al doilea model, de tip marketing are ca scop principal seducerea şi persuadarea electoratului prin
utilizarea mijloacelor de convingere şi este folosit în special în campaniile electorale. Această
metodă se axează pe crearea unei imagini a omului politic din perspectiva limbajului folosit.
Publicitatea de tip politic se referă la chemarea electoratului pentru votarea sau susţinerea
unui anumit candidat. De obicei, politicienii recurg la o serie de metode pentru a atrage electoratul la
vot, iar aceste metode pot fi considerate ca fiind teme ale comunicării politice. În acest caz, în
primul rând se poate vorbi de publicitatea de acţiune, ce se referă la reprezentarea unei acţiuni aflate
în proiect pentru a convinge electoratul să acorde votul unui candidat sau să adere la un partid sau
asociaţie. O altă formă de publicitate politică este reprezentarea, prin care nu vizează în mod special
să declanşeze o implicare specială a electoratului în procesul politic, dar doreşte să ancoreze în
spaţiul politic partidul sau ideologiile politice pe care le reprezintă. În cel de-al treilea rând, există
persuasiunea şi seducţia, cele două efecte retorice ale publicităţii cărora politica le accentuează
specificitatea.
În capitolul II al lucrării intitulat „Media – scena politicienilor” am evidenţiat metodele de
marketing politic folosite cel mai mult de politicieni şi care au un impact mare asupra publicului.
Prin urmare, am început prin a prezenta relaţia care se stabileşte între politicieni, televiziune şi radio.
Aşadar, se poate vorbi de o dependenţă a actorilor politici faţă de mijloacele mass-media, deoarece,
în încercarea de părea cât mai convingători, concep campanii electorale cât mai originale şi mai
atrăgătoare, care să fie în primul rând pe placul presei pentru a le promova. În România, totul se
învârte în jurul banilor, şi a „prieteniilor” legate între politicieni şi unele posturi de televiziune. Mai
mult decât atât, sumele cheltuie în campanie sunt enorme şi provin din bugetul statului în timp ce
banii pentru campaniile electorale din SUA sunt din bugetul propriu. De altfel, prin intermediul
televiziunii, politicienii vând imagine şi nu ideologie politică. Radioul reprezintă şi el o modalitate
de promovare fiind folosit în special datorită faptului că este mult mai ieftin.
În privinţa presei scrise, se poate spune că aceasta are menirea de a acorda cât mai multe
informaţii despre un anumit candidat, şi pot ajunge la un public cât mai variat pentru că politicienii
îşi fac reclamă atât în ziarele politice, dar şi în revistele sportive sau de divertisment. Cu privire la
publicitatea stradală, se poate spune că rolul acesteia este de a aminti şi nu de a convinge, acesta
fiind motivul pentru care principala lor caracteristică este simplitatea (puţină informaţie, multă
culoare, scoaterea candidatului în prim plan).

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 Dacă în anii '90 internetul era un mijloc de comunicare practic necunoscut pentru majoritatea
publicului, după această perioadă numărul utilizatorilor a început să crească în special în ţările
industrializate. Astfel, pentru a ilustra dezvoltarea rapidă a acestuia, se poate spune că dacă pentru a
ajunge la un număr de 50 de milioane de utilizatori, radioului i-au trebuit 38 de ani, televiziunii 13
ani iar internetului doar 4 ani. Mai mult decât atât, se poate trage o concluzie uimitoare, şi anume că
în anul 2007 în întreaga lume erau 1 miliard şi 114 milioane de utilizatori. În acest context,
internetul a devenit o cea mai răspândită formă de comunicare ce s-a extins şi în domeniul politicii.
De aceea, politicienii apelează la el din ce în ce mai mult, deoarece se poate întreprinde o
comunicare mai eficientă cu electoratul prin intermediul blogurilor, forumurilor, sau a jocurilor pe
care unii politicieni le inventează în timpul campaniilor electorale în vederea atragerii a cât mai
mulţi simpatizanţi.
Cu toate acestea, din cauza dezvoltării mijloacelor de comunicare ce cultivă simplitatea,
hedonismul, s-a ajuns la crearea unei imagini a politicianului ca „produs”, iar în România se poate
vorbi de o politica-spectacol practicată de candidaţi prin certurile permanente din mediul politic,
prin încercarea de manipulare folosindu-se de false promisiuni. Astfel, societatea a ajuns să fie una a
consumatorului, ajungându-se la o depolitizare a politicului care îşi pierde tot mai mult esenţa şi
devine tot mai dependent de presă şi noi la rândul nostru la fel, ne transformăm după cum evidenţia
Giovanni Sartori din „homo videns în homo sapiens”. De aceea, trebuie să nu ne lăsăm influenţaţi de
această manipulare politică mediatică, şi să reîncepem să cultivăm obiceiul cititului cărţilor.
În cel de-al treilea capitol al lucrării am încercat să dau o definiţie conceptului de semiotică
(ce se referă în sens larg la ştiinţa interpretării înţelesului semnelor), încercând să abordez problema
prin prisma a doi scriitori importanţi din domeniul semioticii, Fernand de Saussure şi Charles
Sanders Peirce. Astfel, cel dintâi acordă o mai mare importanţă limbajului care este într-o relaţie
dinamică cu discursul şi oferă semnificaţiei o diadă conform căreia semnul este compus din
semnificant şi semnificat. Pe de altă parte, Peirce face o distincţie între „semn” şi „cuvânt” şi susţine
că acesta reprezintă mecanismul înţelegerii. De asemenea, acesta oferă acestu proces o triadă
alcătuită din simbol, din icon şi index. Un alt element important al acestei ştiinţe îl reprezintă
codurile care pot fi clasificate în trei categorii: coduri sociale, coduri textuale şi coduri interpretative.
În studiul de caz „Abordări electorale în România şi în SUA” am încercat să analizez
comparativ campaniile electorale ale preşedintelui României Traian Băsescu şi Barack Obama,
încercând să găsesc o posibilă motivaţie în ceea ce priveşte diferenţele majore dintre de gândire, şi
nivel de trai dintre cele două ţări, şi de asemenea, între modurile în care sunt văzute personalitaţile
politice. De aceea am considerat că este necesar să fac o mică analiză a evoluţiei celor două ţări de-a
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lungul istoriei, deoarece de aici pornesc toate diferenţele. Astfel, România este o ţară care a trecut
prin multe războaie, a fost continuu cotropită şi cucerită, acesta fiind motivul pentru care multiplele
regimuri politice prin care a recut să contribuie la ceea ce este astăzi, adică o ţară de tranzit, ai cărei
cetăţeni susţin că trăiesc într-un regim democratic, dar care nu s-au desprins de influenţele regimului
comunist. În cealaltă extremă, se află SUA, care nu au suportat războaie mari pe teritoriul ei, iar
acest lucru a contribuit la permanenta dezvoltare economică.
Cu privire la analiza comparativă a celor două campanii electorale, am început prin a descrie
mediul politic dinaintea începerii cursei prezidenţiale. Prin urmare, atmosfera politică înainte de
intrarea în competiţia pentru Palatul Cotroceni a lui Traian Băsescu era tensionată, din cauza
distribuţiei puterii între partidele politice. La această tensiune a contribuit şi faptul că Traian
Băsescu a intrat în competiţie prin acuzarea oponentului său, Adrian Năstase de şantaj asupra lui
Theodor Stolojan. Pe de altă parte, şi în SUA situaţia era destul de tensionată din cauza crizei
financiare şi a războaielor din Orientul Mijlociu.
În ciuda acestor lucruri, ambii preşedinţi s-au concentrat pe campaniile de promovare care au
fost spectaculoase, fiecare în modul ei. În acest fel, Traian Băsescu şi-a construit imaginea prin
încercarea de a demonstra că el este diferit de predecesorii săi, că este un politician activ, nu un
spectator, iar prin carisma şi ingeniozitatea sa a devenit popular în rândul cetăţenilor într-un timp
relativ scurt. Adversarii săi politici au fost Adrian Năstase şi Corneliu Vadim Tudor, acesta din urmă
retrăgându-se din cursa electorală cu puţin timp înainte de alegeri. Cei doi politicieni care au rămas
în competiţie s-au diferenţiat prin modul de promovare, astfel Traian Băsescu a profitat din plin de
spiritul său ironic aducând în continuu acuzaţii şi provocări adversarului, în timp ce Adrian Năstase
s-a bazat pe succesele sale ca prim ministru şi se pare că nu a fost de ajuns, fiind înfrânt în turul doi
de scrutin.
Platforma electorală a alianţei D.A. din care făcea parte Traian Băsescu s-a bazat pe
reformarea sistemului educaţional şi pe încurajarea tinerilor de a studia prin acordarea de burse.
Strategiile pe care acesta le-a iniţiat pentru a-şi promova imaginea au fost interesante şi au atras
mulţi simpatizanţi de partea lui. Campania online a fost cea mai spectaculoasă până la momentul
respectiv, în special prin jocurile cu premii realizate şi prin imaginea brandului care era un ardei
roşu. O altă strategie a fost faptul că Traian Băsescu îşi provoca mereu adversarul la înfruntări
televizate, în timp ce acesta din urmă încerca să le aplaneze.
Pe de altă parte, se poate afirma că Barack Obama a început cu şapte ani înainte de alegeri
campania electorală prin faptul că în SUA a rulat un serial de televiziune „24”, în care preşedintele
Americii era o persoană de culoare. De aceea, se poate spune că americanilor li s-a sugerat în mod
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inconştient că viitorul lor preşedinte ar putea fie de culoare. Adversarii politici ai lui Obama au fost
Hillary Clinton şi John McCain, iar în urma retragerii lui Hillary Clinton din cursa pentru Casa Albă,
Obama a rămas cu voturile acesteia dat fiind faptul că ambii erau reprezentanţi ai partidului
democrat.
Aşadar, pentru a combate ideile conservatoriste ale republicanului John McCain, Barack
Obama împreună cu întregul partid democrat au creat o platformă electorală bazată pe ideea de
refacere, de nou, titlul acestui program fiind „Reînnoirea promisiunii către America”, scopul
principal reprezentându-l schimbarea. În ideea acestui concept a fost realizată şi campania electorală
a lui Obama, un om politic ce şi-a dovedit calităţile de politician, de om calm, încrazător în forţele
proprii şi un adevărat patriot. De asemenea, a înţeles faptul că pentru a-şi atrage tinerii de partea sa,
e important să le înţeleagă plăcerile, şi de aceea a creat o interesantă campanie online prin care şi-a
atras un număr mare de simpatizanţi. În acest fel, imaginea lui apărea pe cele mai cunoscute siteuri
şi forumuri precum Facebook, MySpace, YouTube.
Pentru crearea unei imagini pozitive s-a încercat evidenţierea ideii că Barack Obama
reprezintă schimbarea, pe conceptul de împreună ca naţiune ce reiese din sloganul acestuia „Yes We
Can” şi pe ideea de un nou început sugerat de logo-ul acestuia care a fost realizat în ideea unui soare
ce răsare.
Cu toate acestea, Barack Obama a trebuit să treacă şi peste publicitatea negativă care i s-a
făcut mai ales de adversarul său, care îl acuza că este musulman deoarece al doilea său nume este
Hussein sau că este războinicul aşteptat de lumea musulmană pentru a-i ajuta să cucerească lumea.
Pentru a ilustra puterea imaginii de a comunica mesaje, de a persuada sau chiar de contribui
la formarea de opinii, am analizat din punct de vedere al semioticii două afişe electorale, unul al lui
Traian Băsescu, iar celălalt al lui Barack Obama. În acest sens, am luat bannerul folosit de Obama în
întreaga campanie electorală şi care îl înfăţişează din punct de vederea al semnificaţiei la nivel
conotativ un salvator al Americii, limbajul folosit împreună cu logoul şi culorile utilizate reprezintă
simboluri care dau un înţeles întregii imagini şi care analizate la un alt nivel, dezvăluie lucruri pe
care nu le putem percepe la o primă vedere. Astfel, logoul lui Obama ce se aseamănă cu cel folosit
de compania Pepsi ar putea sugera faptul că preşedintele se leagă de tradiţia acestui brand pentru a-şi
crea la rândul lui o astfel de imagine. Un alt lucru interesant ce poate fi observat în afişul acetuia
este celebrul slogan „Yes we can” ce este foarte sugestiv din mai multe puncte de vedere. În primul
rând sugerează faptul că Obama niciodată nu a vorbit despre faptul că el va face un anumit lucru sau
că va scoate America din criză, ci, dimpotrivă mereu a folosit cuvântul „noi”, referindu-se implicit la

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populaţia Statelor Unite. În al doilea rând, mesajul lasă loc de interpretări în sensul că Obama se
poate referi la faptul că „putem să dăm o nouă înfăţişare Americii!” sau „putem opri războaiele!”.
În ceea ce priveşte bannerul electoral al lui Traian Băsescu din 2004, am evidenţiat că acesta
are ca şi culoare centrală portocaliul, ce denotă energie şi care, atrage atenţia. Un alt element din
acea fotografie îl reprezintă contrastul dintre sloganul preşedintelui „Să trăiţi bine!” şi cerşetorul
care doarme zgribulit în partea de jos a panoului. Acest lucru a adus o umbră asupra imaginii lui
Traian Băsescu, dar, cu toate acestea, el a fost câştigătorul alegerilor.

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 Resumen
Conforme al título de mi licencia “El Papel de la Publicidad en las Presidenciales”, el principal tema
debatido es la comunicación política mediante mass media y el propósito final de este proyecto es
subrayar los métodos de marketing político en el proceso de persuasión del electorado. Por eso, en el
estudio de caso hice una comparación entre la campaña presidencial de Traian Băsescu de 2004 y la
campaña presidencial de Barack Obama de 2008. De este modo, mi intención fue la de elegir dos
situaciones totalmente diferentes para dar una respuesta a una pregunta frecuente entre los rumanos:
“¿Por qué no tenemos el mismo estándar de vida como los americanos?”.
Asimismo, desde el título del primer capítulo se nace una pregunta: “¿Podemos considerar la
publicidad política una manipulación de los ciudadanos?”. Por consiguiente, al principio de mi
trabajo he escrito sobre los aspectos generales de la comunicación política, destacando la idea que la
podemos encontrar en diversas formas como las carteleras de calle, los banners, los reclamos de
televisión etc. De modo igual, he aclarado el hecho de que ella supone tres dimensiones: la
dimensión pragmática (que hace referencia a las situaciones reales de comunicación), la dimensión
simbólica (el papel simbólico que tienen las palabras en la comunicación política) y la dimensión
estructural (con referencia a los medios de comunicación mediante los cuales se realiza la
comunicación política: la radio, la televisión, la prensa escrita, el Internet).
Otro aspecto importante se refiere a los actores políticos que son los principales peones de la
escena política y se pueden dividir en tres categorías según sus ideologías políticas. De este modo,
en una primera categoría podemos incluir los partidos políticos que representan un grupo de
personas que comparten las mismas ideas, ideologías políticas y que tienen el mismo propósito. Un
ejemplo elocuente en este sentido lo representan los dos partidos políticos muy poderosos de los
Estados Unidos: el partido republicano (cuyos representantes sostienen las ideas conservadoras) y el
partido democrático (cuyos miembros sostienen las ideas socio-liberales). El departamento de
relaciones con el público viene de apoyar estos partidos, creando una imagen positiva, organizando
ruedas de prensa y también, contrarrestando la imagen negativa creada por la prensa.

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 La segunda categoría es representada por los sindicados, los grupos de consumidores y las
organizaciones públicas. Los miembros de estas organizaciones no están unidos por ideologías
políticas sino por algunas características de los asuntos de trabajo.
La tercera categoría incluye los grupos de presión cuyos intereses se constituyen alrededor
de un problema como, por ejemplo, el problema del medioambiental, y se distinguen de las
organizaciones públicas por el hecho de que están menos institucionalizados. En la categoría de los
actores políticos están incluidas también las organizaciones terroristas, pero la diferencia es que
estos grupos recurren al terrorismo para cumplir sus objetivos. Los ataques terroristas más conocidos
son los atentados con bomba, los asesinados y los secuestros. Las organizaciones terroristas más
renombradas son: Hamas y Hezbollah en el Oriento Medio, ETA en el País Vasco de España, IRA
en el norte de Irlanda, y, al-Qaida, la organización responsable del atentado sobre los turnos gemelos
World Trade Center de Nueva York. Aunque las acciones de estos grupos incluyen ataques
terroristas, su propósito es de transmitir mensajes políticos hacía determinados grupos de
ciudadanos.
En la comunicación política, el papel de los mass media es de informar los ciudadanos sobre
los asuntos de la sociedad, incluso sobre los problemas políticos. En el mismo tiempo con la
liberalización de la prensa, sus funciones se multiplicaron, y en el proceso de comunicación política
tiene los siguientes papeles: presenta las informaciones al público, interpreta las acciones de los
políticos, influye la opinión del electorado, establece las prioridades de las acciones de los políticos
y asegura la comunicación entre los políticos y el electorado. Harold Lasswell tiene otro punto de
vista sobre los papeles de los mass media y les clasifica en tres categorías. La primera función es la
vigilancia sobre el mundo, con el fin de presentar los eventos de actualidad, concentrándose en
determinados eventos, personalidades, instituciones. El segundo papel es de interpretar el sentido de
los eventos que forman o deforman la opinión pública sobre los acontecimientos del mundo político,
orientando su impacto sobre la vida de los individuos. En la aceptación de Laswell, la socialización
de los individuos en su medio cultural representa la tercera función que supone el aprendizaje de los
principales valores de la integración del individuo en su medio cultural. Sin embargo, se puede
hablar sobre una cuarta función de los mass media, la manipulación de los procesos políticos. Esta
función aparece cuando el miedo del individuo de no quedar aislado del resto de la sociedad lo
determina a aceptar ciertos convenciones sociales, haciendo las mismas que hacen las personas de su
alrededor. De este modo, la opinión pública se transforma en un factor de control de las opciones,
siendo un producto aceptado de las valores generales de la sociedad, y, en este caso interviene su
papel de manipulación.
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 En el proceso de la comunicación política, los emisores de los mensajes tienen como
objetivo la seducción o la persuasión del electorado, y por eso, siguen algunas estrategias de
marketing aplicadas mediante la televisión, la radio, la publicidad y la prensa escrita. Más aún, la
publicidad política, forma, promueva y directa hacia determinados grupos la imagen de un partido
político o de un candidato. Un aspecto particular de la publicidad política consiste en la creación de
un sistema estandardizado de ésta. De esta manera, el político se transforma en un producto porque
el propósito final es obtener votos después la campaña electoral. Hay tres tipos de estrategias en este
proceso: la estrategia de proyección que supone la realización de un proyecto de campaña a base de
unos sondeos de opinión, la estrategia de anunciar la opinión pública para que los ciudadanos
conozcan el proyecto y la estrategia verbal y non verbal que implica el lenguaje mímico gestual de
los actores políticos, concediendo al discurso más convicción.
Como los otros tipos de comunicación, la comunicación política se basa en muchos
elementos fijos como: emisor, mensaje, el canal para transmitir el mensaje, código, receptor,
contexto, feed-back, ruido y repertorio. De este modo, el emisor tiene el papel de empezar el proceso
de comunicación, transmitiendo al electorado mensajes en conformidad con sus ideologías. El
segundo elemento de la comunicación política es el mensaje, transmitido mediante el emisor y que
destaca la ideología política del candidato. Las características principales del mensaje político son la
información y la convicción. El canal mediante el cual se envían los mensajes es el tercer elemento.
El código es otro elemento de la comunicación que representa una enumeración lógica de elementos
realizada con el uso de determinados “patterns” bien establecidos que se diferencian según la
estructura mental de los usuarios. El receptor político representa una persona o un grupo de personas
hacia el cual están transmitidos los mensajes. Asimismo, estas personas deben tener la capacidad de
decodificar los mensajes recibidos para ofrecer el feed-back. El contexto se refiere a los valores y las
regulas que contribuyen al proceso de comunicación política. El ruido es un factor muy importante
que representa la totalidad de los elementos de perturbación, físicos o psíquicos, que influencian
directa o indirectamente el proceso de comunicación. Unos ejemplos en este sentido serían: la
intensidad de la voz, la falta de coherencia en los discursos, defectos en la habla, el ritmo de hablar
etc. El repertorio es el último elemento de la comunicación política y se refiere a los conocimientos
de un determinado ámbito, tanto de los políticos (los emisores) como del electorado (los receptores).
El propósito de los políticos es de lograr la consideración del público y da ganar votos. Para
realizar este objetivo, es necesario que el actor tenga en cuenta el contexto económico, social,
cultural, político, y para finalizar esta acción es importante que el proceso pase por algunas etapas.
En la primera se establece el público y en este sentido se identifican los individuos con un mayor
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interés en los programas políticos. La siguiente etapa supone la creación de una imagen positiva del
político, sin contradicciones, clara y reconocida con mucha facilidad. Dado que en el presente los
políticos tratan de crear una imagen original, podemos destacar que su imagen es más importante
que la ideología que el representa. Entre los cualidades de un candidato en la presidencia, se pueden
enumerar los siguientes: el político debe establecer buenas relaciones con la prensa, participar a los
eventos culturales, históricos, sociales importantes de un país, respectar la tradición, tener la
capacidad de escuchar la gente, de conocer la realidad económica y social de su país y, lo mas
importante es que debe saber como evitar los errores. La tercera etapa se refiere a la promoción del
actor político y de su programa electoral. La cuarta etapa hace referencia a las técnicas de distinguir
los candidatos y sus adversarios.
Si el propósito de la comunicación política es de realizar una conexión entre los políticos y
los ciudadanos, entonces su papel es de transmitir las ideas, las ideologías de los candidatos y el
electorado. Por consiguiente, la comunicación política se divide conforme a las ideologías y a la
imagen en dos partes: comunicación política dialógica y comunicación política de marketing. En el
primer tipo de comunicación se usa el lenguaje ideológico se usa para dar a los mensajes un carácter
informativo y, el lenguaje operacional mediante el cual los elementos abstractos están transformados
en acciones políticas percibidas por el público. El segundo modelo, tiene como propósito la
persuasión del público, usando métodos de convencer el electorado, especialmente en las campañas
electorales. De costumbre, los políticos usan una serie de métodos para atraer el electorado,
convencerlo a votar, y, estos métodos pueden ser considerados los mayores temas de la
comunicación política. Para evidenciar este asunto, se puede hablar de tres grandes temas: la
publicidad de acción, la representación y la persuasión.
El tercer capítulo nombrado “Media – la escena de los políticos”, destaca los métodos de
marketing político con un impacto muy grande sobre el público. Por lo tanto, se puede hablar de una
dependencia de los actores políticos hacia la mass media, que, para convencer al público, conciben
campañas electorales originales y atractivas. En Rumania todo se hace con mucho dinero y el
político que tiene muchas “amistades” entre los puestos de televisión, tiene muchas ventajas. Más
aún, las cantidades de dinero necesarios por las campañas son enormes y proceden del presupuesto
del estado mientras que, en los Estados Unidos proceden del presupuesto propio.
En cuanto a la prensa escrita, se puede decir que está es importante porque ofrece muchas
informaciones sobre los candidatos y el público es muy diversificado, teniendo en cuenta que los
políticos promueven su imagen tanto en los periódicos de especialidad como en revistas esportivas o
de divertimiento. Con referencia a la publicidad de la calle, se puede decir que su papel es de
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recordar y no de convencer, y, éste es la razón por lo cual su principal característica es la sencillez
(poca información, mucho color para evidenciar la imagen del candidato).
Si en los años '90 el Internet era un medio de comunicación desconocido por el público,
después este período, el número de los usuarios creció especialmente en los países desarrollados. De
este modo, para subrayar su rápido desarrollo, se puede decir que, la radio alcanzó el número de 50
millones de usuarios en 38 años, la televisión alcanzó el mismo número en 13 años y el Internet
solamente en 4 años. Más aún, se puede destacar la conclusión sorprendente de que, en 2007, en
todo el mundo eran 1.114.000.000 de usuarios. En este contexto, el Internet se convirtió en el más
difundido medio de comunicación. Por esta razón, los políticos lo usan cada vez más, especialmente
porque pueden comunicar directamente con el electorado a través los blogs o los forums.
Por otra parte, el rápido desarrollo de los medios de comunicación ha hecho que el político
se convierte en un producto, y en nuestro país se puede hablar de un espectáculo político resultado
de los frecuentes altercaciones entre los políticos y de su deseo de manipular a los ciudadanos
mediante sus falsas promesas. Asimismo, la sociedad llegó a ser una sociedad del consumidor, y
ocurre una despolitización de la política que pierde sus valores y deviene cada vez más dependiente
de la prensa y, nosotros pasamos a otra etapa, involucionamos según la opinión de Giovanni Sartori
desde el “homo videns a homo sapiens”. Por eso, no debemos dejarnos influidos por esta
manipulación política y tenemos que empezar cultivar el costumbre de leer libros.
En el tercer capítulo de mi trabajo trato el concepto de semiótica, es decir, la ciencia de
interpretar el sentido de los signos. Presentaré este problema desde el punto de vista de dos
escritores importantes de este dominio, Fernand de Saussure y Charles Sanders Peirce. De este
modo, el primero científico da una mayor importancia al lenguaje que tiene una relación dinámica
con el discurso y nos da una díada teórica diacronía-sincronía, que sostiene el hecho de que el signo
es compuesto de significante y significado. Por otra parte, Peirce hace una distinción entre “signo” y
“palabra” y sostiene que estos representan el mecanismo de entender. Él nos ofrece una triada
compuesta por el símbolo, el icono y el índice. Otro aspecto muy importante de esta ciencia lo
representan los códigos, clasificados en tres categorías: códigos sociales, códigos textuales y códigos
interpretativos.
En el estudio de caso hice una comparación entre las campañas electorales del presidente
rumano Traian Băsescu y de Barack Obama, el presidente de los Estados Unidos para encontrar
motivaciones referentes a las grandes diferencias de pensamiento y estándar de vida entre los dos
países. Por eso, consideré necesario hablar un poco sobre las historias de los dos países, porque de
ahí empiezan las diferencias. Asimismo, Rumania es un país que pasó por muchos regímenes
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políticos, y por eso, en el presente el régimen democrático no es muy bien definido, especialmente
porque aún se sienten las influencias comunistas. Por otro lado, los Estados Unidos conocieron un
permanente desarrollo económico, y, por eso, el sistema democrático se desarrolló continuamente.
En cuanto al análisis comparativo entre las dos campañas electorales, hice una descripción
del ámbito político antes de que la competición empezara. Aunque en los dos países la situación
política era tensionada, los dos presidentes concibieron espectaculares campañas electorales. De este
modo, Traian Băsescu construyó su imagen intentando demostrar que el es diferente de sus
predecesores, que es un político activo, carismático e ingenioso, en contrasto con su adversario
político, Adrian Năstase, que se basó en sus éxitos como primer ministro. El programa electoral de
la alianza D.A. presidida por Traian Băsescu, se baso principalmente en la reformación del sistema
educacional y en apoyar los jóvenes concediéndole becas de estudio.
Con respecto a la campaña de Barack Obaam, se puede decir que su campaña empezó siete
años antes de las elecciones, por un filmo “24” que sugirió de modo inconsciente que el futuro
presidente americano puede ser de origen Afro-Americano. El programa electoral de los
republicanos se basó en la idea de la “renovación” de todo el país, y para atraer los jóvenes a su
parte, organizó una campaña de promoción en el Internet, y su imagen aparecía en sitios web como
Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. No obstante, Barak Obama tuvo que sobrepasar la publicidad
negativa que lo acusaba de ser musulmán, por que lleva el nombre de Hussein
Para ilustrar el poder de la imagen como medio de comunicación de los mensajes, de
manipular o cambiar las opiniones de los individuos, hice un análisis del punto de vista de dos
pósteres políticos de Traian Băsescu y Barack Obama. En este sentido, hice un comentario sobre el
póster usado de Obama en su campaña, y destaqué el hecho de que su eslogan tenía valores
connotativos, “Yes we can” haciendo referencia a la poder de los americanos de sobrepasar todos los
obstáculos sin están unidos. En el caso del póster de Traian Băsescu se destaca el color orange que
significa poder, energía (las principales cualidades del presidente) y, también la gran diferencia de
significado entre el eslogan “Să trăiţi bine” (¡Que viváis bien!) y el mendigo que duerme a la baja
del póster.

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