Visual Culture, Personalization, and Politics: A Comparative Analysis of Political Leaders’ Instagram-Based Image-Making and Communication in Spain and India

Abstract

How do specific sociopolitical cultural contexts influence the image-making strategies of heads of state on social media? Through a hybrid visual quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study highlights the ways in which political leaders of two countries with vastly different cultural contexts – Spanish President Pedro Sánchez and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – used the social, political, geographical, and cultural particularities of their countries to present themselves visually on Instagram and appeal to the public. The findings suggest that Sánchez and Modi have leveraged Instagram’s structural and functional properties to stage political performances infused with cultural markers, to spotlight specific facets of their identity attributes and character traits, as well as to roll out strategic visual narratives conveying their political values and stances on political and policy issues of importance to their target audiences. This study contributes to understanding the role of visual politics in social media-based politicking and how this type of strategic communication builds on cultural cues to frame personalized political identities.