Purpose Too many US voters appear emotionally exhausted, angered and/or disincentivized by the deluge of negative political advertising that presently prevails. Consequently, politicians, political processes, and advertisers are all suffering. This study investigates whether politicians and advertisers might win by “Breaking Good” (i.e. by using positive political messages). Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were carried out to examine individuals' responses to positive and negative political messages. Study 1 examined the effect of ad-induced positive (vs. negative) political messages received through traditional (vs. contemporary) communication channels. Study 2 presented positive (vs. negative) political ads while controlling for source effects and examined individuals' voting intentions and willingness to share political messages through traditional and contemporary channels of communication. The study also provided evidence for the underlying role of message uniqueness and message believability. Findings Results across the two studies indicate that politicians and advertisers should benefit by using positive political messages, as they result in higher voting intentions. Positive political messages are perceived to be more unique and thus, more believable. Further, the type of communication channel moderates the effect of message type on voting intentions. Research limitations/implications From a theoretical perspective, the present research contributes to the scarce literature on using positive political messages. Drawing on attribution theory's augmenting/discounting principle, we provide evidence that positive political messages are more diagnostic as they are perceived to be more unique and believable. As such, they have a greater impact on voters compared to negative political messages, which goes against conventional norms. Originality/value The present research empirically examines the role of positive and negative political messages and provides insights into the role of communication channel type while identifying the underlying role of message uniqueness and believability. The importance of this research is highlighted by the fact that, despite the apathy towards positive advertising, political campaigns are relying more than ever on negative advertising.
Yazdanparast et al. (Sat,) studied this question.