A Qualitative Semiotic Analysis of Gender and Minority Representation in Presidential Candidates Campaign Videos

The study is a qualitative semiotic film analysis of campaign videos from three American presidential candidates: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris. The study employs both semiotics and representation theory to examine how campaign videos communicate messages regarding ethnicity and gender, as well as how they convey the candidates’ respective voter bases. The conclusion was that all candidates use their identities as part of their political communication in their campaign videos and that representation within these videos reflects the candidates’ intended target audiences. The study also provides insight into how the time between different elections may have influenced how gender and ethnicity are communicated in politics. Furthermore, the study addresses a research gap by combining semiotic and representational analysis methods, offering valuable insights into how political communication incorporates gender and ethnicity