Analysis of the representation of current political issues in digital posters and online memes: assessing media effects using itracking techniques

This article analyzes contemporary digital political posters and Internet memes as phenomena demonstrating increasing functionality in the conditions of information warfare. They represent the current topics and narratives of the news agenda in social media and have a high level of emotional expressiveness. In the study of social media content (VKontakte, Telegram) more than 100 digital political posters and internet memes devoted to contemporary political processes were analysed. Based on this, a sample of 28 media texts was formed which took into account their communication effect (frequency of representation on digital platforms). The topics were systematized into 10 blocks. Visual neuromarketing (i.e., i-tracking) and an online survey were used in the media effect study. The respondents were young people between the ages of 18 and 22. The study was conducted by applying the main tenets of the cognitive approach to the study of media effects through two interrelated models: agenda-setting and framing, used to analyse the content and presentation of information. The main results of the study reveal the key attention patterns and areas of interest of the respondents («image», «text»), as well as the attitudes towards the proposed stimuli.