Caricature and media: from the threat to the political propaganda strategy in the electoral campaigns of 2012, 2014 and 2016 in Paraíba
Caricature; Mascot; Media; Political advertising; Election campaign.
The election campaign period is conducive to the emergence of the most varied resources and strategies of media and communication between political candidates and their electorate. In the last decade, there has been a phenomenon that is gaining momentum and increasing the number of supporters in the electoral campaigns, especially in Paraíba. This is the production and use of caricatures of candidates as media of political propaganda, known as "political mascots". It’s interesting to this investigation to discover how advertisers and politicians use these media to present or sell their image. Thus, the concern that moves this initiative is not part of an outside look, that is, of a representation of the candidates from the perspective of the media
and the positions taken by it to issue an opinion speech about politicians. But part of a look inside, from the use of the media by the candidates themselves and their Marketing team to create their representation. The research is developed on two pillars of research: one focused on the creators (emitters of the message) and another focused on creation (the message itself). The first one will focus on the study of social practices that permeate the entire creative process of caricatures. At this stage, the social actors involved in the process of creating, the drawings and planning the strategy of their application in the campaign pieces of the political candidates will be interviewed. The second pillar of research will focus on the study of the construction of meaning in advertising. The caricatures used as media for the electoral campaign will be analyzed. The thesis that emerges from the reflections so far developed is that the caricatures mascots are the mechanism found by the advertising operators for the graphic codification of political compliment, exploited strategically for the publicity promotion of the candidates in the elections. This codification would be the symbolic representation of affection, associated with the image of political candidates.