Political Branding: The use of campaign color as symbolism of platforms among the presidential candidates in the 2022 elections

Abstract

In a very complex nature of politics, color serves as a low-level heuristic for voters, especially the use of campaign color as a symbolism of platforms. This study sought to determine the level of agreement on the universal meaning of the different colors chosen by the Presidential candidates during the 2022 national elections; the level of agreement if the political colors of the presidential candidates and its representation to their political platforms; and if these chosen political colors correspond to the platforms of the presidential candidates among the students of the School of Teachers and Liberal Arts of the University of Baguio. A mixed method with a self-constructed questionnaire using the Likert Scale to determine the level of agreement among the 143 respondents and an interview with 8 informants among the students was used in this study. The study revealed that the color Red is the most misinterpreted color because of its historical and psychological connotations which led to its negative symbolism. While both Pink and Blue, showed a positive result because of their psychological, cultural, and political aspect. Furthermore, all colors aligned with their platforms except the color Red by Marcos with his platform about Unity. Additionally, the presidential candidates' platforms were based on their personal and political factors. Overall, the research suggests that there’s still no established meaning of political colors in our country and that voters still take issue with what the colors truly represent.