AdDem explores whether short, accessible democratic messages can strengthen citizens’ democratic commitment in an attention-scarce information environment.
Elaborate facts, figures and long arguments have struggled to strengthen democratic values. AdDem begins with a sharper premise: democratic communication must meet people inside the media environment they actually inhabit.
AdDem starts from the uncomfortable media reality citizens actually inhabit — compressed attention, high friction, and democratic messages competing with everything else on the screen.
Democratic information has to compete for seconds, not seminar-length attention.
Values are complex, but the entry point cannot always be complex.
Previous efforts have struggled because the format often ignores the actual information environment.
If the medium shapes attention, democratic interventions have to study the medium too. AdDem examines whether advertising formats can make democratic principles easier to encounter, remember and reflect on.
Rule of law, rights, elections, tolerance and commitment to democratic principles.
Short, visual, memorable messages designed for modern attention patterns.
Choose a principle, switch the tone, and see how the message framing changes. Demo only — not official data collection.
Frames democracy as a shared protection: personal, direct and values-led.
You rated it 68/100. The project could test whether tone and format change democratic commitment.
AdDem pioneers a research agenda for pro-democratic interventions in the 21st-century information environment — from the problem, to ad design, to experiments, measurement and impact.
Design strategies that improve democratic commitments.
Communicate democratic principles in accessible ways.
Test which designs strengthen democratic values.
Measure what works, for whom, and under what conditions.
Redefine pro-democratic interventions for the 21st-century information environment.
As experiments and findings grow, this module can show where democratic advertisements are tested and what each study reveals — without hiding the research journey behind academic tables.
The project becomes easier to understand when visitors can see the kinds of democratic messages being tested — as campaign objects, not just academic descriptions.
Use large campaign-style visuals, hover states and future lightboxes for video or experiment variants.
Turns abstract values into concrete, testable message formats.
The project identity becomes part of the storytelling system.
The project’s biggest challenge is also its most interesting question: can democracy be communicated through advertisements without becoming shallow, manipulative or partisan?
The research question is precisely whether accessible formats can communicate democratic principles without reducing their dignity or complexity.
AdDem is led by researchers studying democratic commitment, political communication and pro-democratic interventions.
Principal investigator
Leads the AdDem research agenda and the project’s central question: can democratic advertisements strengthen commitment?
Researcher · Postdoc
Postdoc researcher contributing to the Advertising Democracy project.
Researcher · Postdoc
Postdoc researcher contributing to the Advertising Democracy project.
The project is funded by a Sapere Aude Grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Survey analyses for the preliminary stages are funded by Aarhus University Research Foundation.
