Candidates´ agenda and image in the infotainment television programs during the General Elections of 2015 in Spain

Abstract

There was a turn in the use of political marketing strategies in Spain with the election campaign of December 20th, 2015. Infotainment television programs were unprecedented in their protagonism, which was part of the candidates´ agendas as they reached out directly to the electorate with a human image. A quantitative content analysis was carried out to further understand the most used topics in these formats, as well as the type of public and private information that is produced about them. To this end, the rhetoric was analyzed from the three most followed Spanish infotainment programs: En la tuya o en la mí­a (TVE), El hormiguero 3.0 (Antena 3), ¡Qué tiempo tan feliz! (Telecinco); parties with the highest electoral expectations were included. The results indicate a clear prevalence of personal issues as opposed to the more political and programmatic ones, which take second place.