Persuasion und Information in der Wahlkampfkommunikation. Die erfolgreichsten Wahlwerbespots zur Bundestagswahl 2025 auf YouTube

Within the paradigm of political campaigning, the medium of election advertising assumes a pivotal role, and consequently, its dissemination occurs in the period immediately antecedent to elections. The objective of these advertisements is to persuade undecided voters to cast their vote for the party, thereby underscoring its ideological stance and its supporters, even among those who align with competing parties. This approach draws parallels with traditional commercial advertisements, highlighting unexpected similarities in their strategic approach. Consequently, election advertisements possess both an informative and persuasive character, with the persuasive elements stemming from a skillful integration of verbal and non-verbal components. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a multimodal analysis of five of the most viewed YouTube TV-advertisements for the federal elections in Germany, with the aim of identifying which verbal and non-verbal elements contributed most to their popularity. Multimodal analysis therefore aims to identify the characteristics that contribute most to the persuasive objective of the election campaign, to create an emotional bond between the parties and the electorate and to build trust. The paper is divided into three sections. The first one provides a theoretical foundation, introducing and classifying election commercials. The second section presents an analysis of the commercials, while the third section offers a discussion of the strategies employed by the various parties and some final considerations.