Replication Data for: Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments (doi:10.7910/DVN/CB3LP1)

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Document Description

Citation

Title:

Replication Data for: Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments

Identification Number:

doi:10.7910/DVN/CB3LP1

Distributor:

Harvard Dataverse

Date of Distribution:

2026-04-13

Version:

1

Bibliographic Citation:

Coppock, Alexander; John Murphy; Vavreck, Lynn; Hill, Seth, 2026, "Replication Data for: Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CB3LP1, Harvard Dataverse, V1

Study Description

Citation

Title:

Replication Data for: Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments

Identification Number:

doi:10.7910/DVN/CB3LP1

Authoring Entity:

Coppock, Alexander (Northwestern University)

John Murphy (University of California, Los Angeles)

Vavreck, Lynn (University of California, Los Angeles)

Hill, Seth (University of California, Los Angeles)

Distributor:

Harvard Dataverse

Access Authority:

Coppock, Alexander

Depositor:

Coppock, Alexander

Date of Deposit:

2026-04-13

Holdings Information:

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CB3LP1

Study Scope

Keywords:

Social Sciences

Abstract:

We evaluate whether campaign advertisements that generate larger emotional reactions also generate larger persuasive effects in contemporary elections. We analyze 29 weeks of experiments conducted during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, in which 48 authentic campaign ads were tested in real time, often within days of their debut. The ads and a placebo were randomly assigned to approximately 28,000 subjects. We find that campaign ads reliably move emotions, albeit in largely partisan ways, with comparatively muted reactions among independents. Critically, however, these emotional reactions do not predict the magnitude of an ad's effect on candidate favorability, vote intention, policy preferences, or turnout intention. Our results cast doubt on emotion-based accounts of advertising persuasion in polarized elections and caution practitioners against using self-reported emotional reactions as a measure of message effectiveness.

Methodology and Processing

Sources Statement

Data Access

Notes:

<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0">CC0 1.0</a>

Other Study Description Materials

Related Publications

Citation

Title:

"Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments" John Murphy, Alexander Coppock, Seth J. Hill, and Lynn Vavreck Political Communication

Bibliographic Citation:

"Do Emotional Ads Persuade? Evidence from Real-Time Campaign Advertising Experiments" John Murphy, Alexander Coppock, Seth J. Hill, and Lynn Vavreck Political Communication

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

replication_archive.zip

Notes:

application/zip