Personalized politics

Social media platforms have become central to modern political communication, allowing politicians to create carefully managed personal brands. Instagram enables candidates to construct visual identities that highlight leadership traits, values, and personal narratives. Despite the increasing prominence of these visual strategies, there remains limited comparative research examining how politicians with contrasting political identities use Instagram for personalization strategies. This thesis investigates the visual branding strategies of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign. Specifically, it explores the similarities and differences in their political branding on Instagram and identifies the factors that explain the variety. The central research question is: What are the similarities and differences in how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump construct their political brands on Instagram, and what explains this variety? A qualitative visual content analysis was conducted on 400 Instagram posts, 200 from each case. Images were coded according to five main themes derived from the literature and inductive analysis. This thematic approach enabled a nuanced, in-depth comparison of the candidates' visual branding. The findings reveal significant differences. Harris's visual branding emphasizes privatization, emotional warmth, and inclusive representations of supporters, youth, and minority communities. In contrast, Trump's visual branding relies on formal leadership cues, crowd scenes, patriotic symbolism, and traditional power elements. These contrasts reflect deeper ideological orientations and target audiences, suggesting that visual strategies serve to communicate distinct political identities. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that visual branding on Instagram is highly personalized and shaped by political context, ideology, and voter expectations. It underscores the strategic role of visual communication in campaigns and contributes to a deeper understanding of personalized political branding in the digital age.