Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Communication (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Communication

Advisor/Mentor

Rebecca B. Leach

Committee Member

Ryan Neville-Shepard

Second Committee Member

Freddie Jennings

Keywords

campaign genres; double bind; gender bias; political advertising; sexism and politics

Abstract

This thesis investigated the role of traditional gender stereotypes as utilized in political advertising, specifically by women in the regional South. This study utilized two exemplars of candidates leaning into opposite gender stereotypes, MJ Hegar and Jaime Harrison, to determine how focus group participants reacted to each candidate’s use of stereotypes and their experimental advertisements as a whole. Additionally, the effectiveness of this new and innovative genre of long shot launch advertisements was analyzed to see if these advertisements are a potential tool for change, specifically for women running for office. These focus group sessions produced 161 pages of double-spaced transcripts, leading to the discovery of four key themes: strength and resilience as positive characteristics exhibited by Hegar, the appearance of a double bind when viewing Harrison’s use of traditionally feminine characteristics, Hegar’s inauthenticity in contrast to Harrison’s authenticity, and a lack of effectiveness in this genre of long shot launch advertisements. This research illustrates how the double bind and traditional gender stereotypes can still be a barrier for women running for political office, even those utilizing new and intriguing advertising techniques in order to potentially combat the gender bias that pervades politics. Keywords: double bind, political advertising, gender bias, sexism and politics, campaign genres

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