Thinc Design is to debut a new exhibition next month, themed around political advertising ahead of the 2016 National Conventions for nominees to the US Presidency.
On display from 14 July through to election day on 8 November,
I Approve This Message: Decoding Political Ads will come to the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, focusing on how ads use imagery, music, sound effects, camerawork and words to persuade, stir emotions and capture votes.
The experience – shaped by Thinc along with museum assistant director Adam Levine and guest co-curator, Harriett Levin Balkind, founder of HonestAds – will be fully immersive and will help to sensitise visitors to the emotional impact of political advertising.
Exhibited in a 7,000sq ft (650sq m) temporary space at the gallery, Thinc has divided the main area into multiple theatres displaying ads that focus on a range of emotions including fear, anger, pride and hope. The exhibition will project more than 50 adverts in total, with key advertisements broken down frame-by-frame to demonstrate how individual elements such as music and tone impact viewers. The centre of the exhibition will be the wedge-shaped ‘Mood Room’, which will demonstrate how ambient images and sounds create emotion.
“One of our key objectives is to help visitors gain insight into the power of political ads through an emotional journey,” said Tom Hennes, founder and creative director of Thinc. “We hope to unveil some of the most potent ways they pull our emotional levers.”
As visitors move from theatre to theatre within the exhibition space, they will be invited to write comments on a chalkboard wall, which the museum will document periodically. The experience is rounded-out with a second gallery offering interactive, hands-on tools, including opportunities for visitors to create their own advertisements.
“This exhibition is grounded in recent research into behavioural science and emotional response,” said Levine. “We attempt to outline how political ads are consciously constructed to evoke specific emotions in viewers. The creators of these ads know that emotional triggers override your rationality and we will show you how they do it time and again.”
