Music video as party political communication: Opportunities and limits

Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness, limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popular music to articulate party specific discourses. Leaning on Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and musicology, I analyse the lyrics, visuals and musical sounds of musical advertisements prepared for two Turkish political events: A parliamentary election campaign and a presidential referendum campaign. Through a detailed analysis I reveal the discourses articulated, how these are articulated and the strengths and shortcomings of musical advertisements as a means of communicating party political discourses