Reading Faces: The Power of Facial Expressions as Visual Cues in Reports of Social Movements

Relative to text-oriented news framing effects research, the framing effects of visual information on emotions, attitudes, and behaviors have received less attention. This study explores the impact of facial expressions as visual cues on audience engagement, perceived protest effectiveness, and intentions to engage in boycott movements, within the context of digital media. We employed AI functions built within the photo editing applications to manipulate facial expressions in photos of protesters. We conducted a single-factor experimental design with a representative sample of South Koreans (N = 511), examining visual emotional cues (positive vs. negative) across two contexts: Anti-Oxy Movement and No Japan Movement. Our results demonstrate that negative emotions (anger and sadness), rather than positive emotions (hope and enthusiasm), mediate the effects of visual cues in the case of Anti-Oxy movement. These findings suggest that visual framing may have significant implications for how people perceive and respond to reports of social protests.