Campaign Songs and Political Advertising in Ghana

Abstract

As persuasive tools for political campaigns, songs and music are integral features of electioneering in Africa. Since Ghana's return to multiparty democracy in 1992, election cycles in the country have been heralded and accentuated by campaign songs which extol the virtues of their sponsors and/or denigrate the achievements and their suitability for political office. This chapter examines the use of repetitions, testimonials, and biblical imagery in campaign songs of two major political parties in Ghana—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)—during the 2012 and 2016 elections. Eight campaign songs were analyzed. The findings show that the songs sought to communicate messages/themes of submissiveness/humility, divine choice/prophecy, achievers/achievement, and opponents as failures/deceivers about the political parties and their candidates.