Political Advertising in the 2014 European Parliament Elections

Christina Holtz-Bacha is Professor of Communication at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Edoardo Novelli is Associate Professor at the University of Roma Tre, Italy.Kevin Rafter is Professor of Political Communication at Dublin City University, Ireland.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Background to the elections.- 3. Regulation of electoral advertising in Europe.- 4. Representations of the European project.- 5. Representations of the Economic Crisis and Austerity Politics.- 6. A Negative Touch in Posters and Spots.- 7. Populist Politics and the ‘radical right’ in 2014 Elections.- 8. Old vs. New Europe? Differences in content and style of political advertising.- 9. Central-Eastern campaigning for the European parliament - In search of common patterns.- 10. The first time for everything: Political Advertising in a new Member State.- 11. Candidate-oriented but no European Spitzenkandidaten. The role of candidates in political advertising.- 12. Persuading beyond Words: Visual Appeals in the 2014 European Parliament Election Campaign.-