Obilježja pakiranja politike u izbornoj kampanji HDZ-a i SDP-a 2003. godine
Features of Packaging Politics in the Electoral Capaigns of HDZ and SDP in 2003

Summary/Abstract: Packaging politics has recently become a major topic of the political communication research, studies and debates. The author presents the definitions and views of this phenomenon, and looks into its fundamental features and effects. By using this theoretical framework as his starting point, the author analyzes the extent of packaging politics in the electoral campaign of the HDZ and the SDP, the two biggest parties in Croatia in 2003, by focusing on the six ways of packaging politics in a campaign: the use of television, the cooperation of parties with spin doctors and media consultants, the media presentation of politicians’ contacts with celebrities, the construction and promotion of political leaders’ image, the attitudes to certain social issues and problems, and the attacks on the opponents. In his survey, the author uses the results of the content analysis of the samples of TV spots used in the campaign of 2003 as well as the results of the poll carried out on the eve of the elections on a representative sample of adult Croatian citizens. The results show that in this campaign the leading Croatian parties tried to win the voters’ support by packaging politics, which was particularly noticeable in the intensive use of television and the promotion of the images of these parties’ presidents. This and other methods of packaging politics were more expertly and deftly used by the winning party – the HDZ – than by its biggest rival, the SDP. The author points out how this evident packaging of politics affected the quality of the political discourse in that electoral campaign. That is why the campaign partly lost its primary function to provide a venue for an informed and public debate on key issues and problems of social development.

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