Fall has been filled with political ads this year, but what makes them effective?

If it’s fall in Ohio, that means that the days are getting shorter, the temperatures are dropping and everywhere you look you see colorful leaves and even more colorful political advertisements.

This fall in particular, political advertisements have seemed to be constantly on television, online, through music streaming services, on billboards, on yard signs, on your phone and pretty much everywhere you are.

With so many political ads, though, how do campaigns get their messages to stand out? And why does it feel like they need to be everywhere?

Along the same lines, the amount of negative political advertisements seems to continue increasing, even though people say they don’t like negative ads. Is there a big risk of being too negative? 

For answers to these and a full ticket of issues related to political advertisements, we turned to Ohio University faculty experts Dr. Jerry Miller and Dr. Kevin Spiker.

The two have been watching the political campaigns closely with their classes this fall and discussed what research shows about negative ads, the effectiveness of more traditional ads like yard signs and bumper stickers and even trends they have been seeing in political advertising.

Why do so many campaigns run negative political advertisements? 

The races for governor and U.S. Senate in Ohio have been noted for their negativity and personal attacks this fall, and the governor’s race specifically has attracted national attention due to the negativity of the ads.

But it’s not just one or two ads where we're seeing it this fall, as many of them in different races have been ethically suspect in how they use grainy images, dark colors schemes and dramatizations, explained Miller who is a professor in the School of Communication Studies in the Scripps College of Communication. Miller’s research focus includes political advertising, and he also serves as the director of the Political Communication Certificate program.

Those grainy images, dark colors and choices for music and sound effects are all designed to amplify the negative connections the ads are making about a candidate.

“What makes them effective is their cognitive appeal, calling to question the credibility of the opposition, particularly when that poor ethos is tied to a political issue such as data centers, COVID-19 response, the Epstein Files, political corruption or unethical business practices,” Miller said. 

These “ties” may not be supported by much actual evidence, Miller added, but it’s up to the viewer to research the claims if they want to learn more.

The idea of these ads isn’t to talk about issues or how one candidate might solve problems, instead it’s just to persuade voters to question the credibility of the opposition candidate and to think negatively about the future if that candidate wins, Miller said. In most cases, it is left up to the voter to fill in the blanks about how the future might look. 

This year in the race for governor, at least one political advertisement is even trying to portray the future if one candidate wins, while once again using dark colors and imagery to reinforce the message. 

“It’s this dark, dark world,” said Spiker, who is an associate professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, about the future world the ad is trying to portray. “I wonder how truly effective that is.”

How effective are the negative political ads? 

While research shows that negative political advertisements can draw attention to a campaign, the data is not definitive on the actual effect of the ads.

“They can make people take notice, but in terms of shifting large numbers of voters, that cannot be concluded from the literature,” Spiker said.

By drawing attention to an opponent’s weakness, it can put the opponent on the defensive so they have to change their messaging in response, Spiker added.

This can increase the number of negative ads even further, but Spiker stressed that the research does not show that they are any more effective than positive ads.

“There is always that potential for backlash,” Miller added. If the negative ads cross a line, they can come back to hurt the campaigns that paid for them. 

“There is always a risk, and negative advertising is no exception,” Miller said.

National news stories this year are focusing on the negative advertising and potential backlash in the governor’s race, but this is something the campaigns all study before releasing an advertisement.

“Everything is a choice,” Miller said. The campaigns weigh how effective they believe the types of ads will be and potential negative impacts, just as they weigh the issues they will discuss, whether they will take part in debates and where they will campaign.

Are we seeing more political ads this year?

The November elections are pivotal for Ohio and the United States, and Ohio voters will be deciding on closely contested races for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and a large number of additional state and local races.

The race for Ohio’s next senator is one of the most, if not the most expensive campaigns in the country this fall, with more than $400 million being spent on the campaign, according to Time. That race could help to decide which party controls the U.S. Senate, and it is seen as a key race nationwide.

The importance of the campaigns nationally leads to more negative ads, but it also leads to a large number of political advertisements that are focused on building name recognition

“If you look at Congressional elections, one of the most important resources that a candidate can have is that of name recognition,” said Spiker. 

For voters who may not have much information on the candidates and may not be voting purely along party lines, research has suggested that these voters have used name recognition as a factor in who to vote for, Spiker said. This can be true for Congressional elections, but also for state and local races.

This tends to help incumbent candidates in elections and also favors candidates with a lot of political advertisements that are reaching voters.

“There is tremendous, tremendous benefit for name recognition,” Spiker said. 

The issue then, is how to get voters to know the name of your candidate and to think of them favorably. Sometimes this leads to running the same advertisements over and over, and it can also lead to different types of advertisements.

Spiker said he recently saw one political advertisement run four consecutive times during a college football game on television.

“It was really annoying,” Spiker said. It did, though, get the name and the message out to the voters watching the game.

According to Miller, one key for political campaigns is to target ads to the different audiences they are trying to reach.

This means scheduling political advertisements in the morning when people may be getting ready for work and then at different times of the day when television viewing habits show that different voting groups may be watching different programs. This could include football games, news broadcasts and other programs, depending on the voter groups a campaign is trying to reach.

It’s important to remember, too, that the campaigns are trying to reach the undecided voters with their ads, Miller said.

Political campaigns also work through social media, music streaming services, YouTube, radio and other forms of media, while also working with traditional spaces such as billboards and yard signs. The campaigns must weigh where to spend their resources to reach the voters that they are targeting.

This is much different from campaigns just 20 or 30 years ago, Spiker said, when campaigns focused on newspaper, radio and television advertisements, along with yard signs and billboards.

How do yard signs, bumper stickers and online ads factor into campaigns?

“Yard signs are an efficient way to enlist citizens to become part of the campaign. By posting a sign in your yard, you are communicating to your neighborhood that this is the person you support,” Miller said. 

The more yard signs that may be in the neighborhood, the stronger the potential impact of the signs.

One key to these signs, Spiker added, is if the signs have a consistent color scheme and use fonts and colors that are easy to read. The signs, along with all political advertisements, also have to state who paid for them, even if the writing on the signs is very small.

“The most effective forms of advertisement of that type is the bumper sticker, it moves from place to place,” Spiker said. 

While the yard signs and bumper stickers enlist supporters to put up the signs, online ads also encourage supporters to become a part of the campaign by liking posts, commenting and sharing links.

“They can become part of the campaign by spreading the message,” Miller said. 

What has been new in 2026? And what should we expect from the elections?

A few items that Spiker noted as new in the election cycle this fall include terms that you hear more in the campaign ads and speeches compared to past years. These include:

• One party using the term “socialism” to describe the other party this fall. 
• One party portraying itself as trying to protect democracy from the other party.
• The focus on data centers in the elections.
• The focus on the First Energy scandal in Ohio and the Epstein Files.

While the effectiveness of this year’s advertisements will be studied after the election, it’s also important to remember that midterm elections (years when there are Congressional elections but not a presidential election) tend to favor the political party opposing the current president.

“Historically, the party out of power does really, really well,” Spiker said. Presidents in power during a midterm election generally see their party lose Congressional seats in the election, especially in the U.S. House.

“Since 1934, there have only been three midterm elections where the president’s party has won seats in the House of Representatives in the midterms,” Spiker said. 

Spike goes on to note that some voters who might have been energized by the president are not as enthusiastic about the midterm election and may not vote.

“One reason is voter turnout, the president is not on the ballot and the president is the leader of their party,” Spiker said.

At the same time, the party that is not in power is energized to regain power, so their voters may be more likely to vote.

We will know the results of the campaigns next week with Election Day being held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and policial experts will study the impact of this year’s campaign advertising.

For the rest of us, we will likely just notice the absence of the political advertisements, as they go into a hibernation of sorts until the next political campaign season starts anew.