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Negative campaigns may produce positive results that politicians never intended.

“Voters learn a lot. They hate negative ads, but this may actually increase the likelihood that they vote,” said Ruth Ann Weaver Lariscy, one of a pair of UGA professors who have teamed up to study political campaigns.

Lariscy and colleague Spencer Tinkham, both professors of advertising, have found that although voters tend to dislike negative political ads, that type of advertising actually adds interest and excitement to a campaign.

“There are all sorts of positive outcomes that people don’t even realize are happening when they encounter negative messages,” Lariscy said.

For nearly 20 years, Lariscy’s expertise in public relations and Tinkham’s background in advertising have led them to compile one of the most extensive bodies of research on U.S. congressional campaigns, recently focusing on negative ads (Research Reporter, Winter/Spring 1996).

Among their findings is that negative campaign ads have a lasting effect — one that may even increase over time. Lariscy and Tinkham’s article on this “sleeper effect” was named best article in the Journal of Advertising in 1999 by the American Academy of Advertising.

While they continue to study negative ads, the researchers also are examining voter turnout, expanding the scope of their surveys to include state legislative campaigns, and conducting experiments with specialized audiences like elderly voters.

“The elderly are the most reliable voters. They turn out more consistently and they’re becoming a more dominant political force in terms of their numbers,” Tinkham said. “There are a lot of reasons why their vote is important.”

But negative political ads continue to have a positive place in the pair’s research.

“I don’t have a favorite negative ad,” Lariscy said. “I love them all.”

For more information, contact rlariscy@uga.edu.

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