Functional Analysis of Televised Political Spots and Debates in Korean Presidential Elections, 1992-2007

Utilizing the functiona1 approach, ùs study explores similarities and differences between televised politic spots and presidential debates in Korean presidenti elections. Overall, the study found that there were clear differences in the use of theme functions, utterances, and ψpes of each function between televised politica1 debates and spots. In addition, the results of ùs study were consistent with findings of pre、rious studies that acclaims were the most common discourse function, followed by attacks, and defense. Considering the nature of politic advertising, candidates prefer to use spots over debates because they can portray elements of and character and image 1fough the spo ina more impressive way. In contrast, the nature of discussion seems to lead candidates to use more factual acdaims and attacks and to focus on issues more than character during debates.