ABSTRACT
In contemporary times, visual rhetoric plays an ever-increasing role in political communication. Given their rapid dissemination and emotional appeal, images serve as a powerful means of political persuasion and mobilisation. This chapter shows how visual rhetorical analysis can be used to critically examine political imagery. This potential is illustrated by exploring the visual rhetoric of two presidential campaign images of Jussi Halla-aho, the populist Finns Party (FP) candidate. Through this analysis, this chapter elucidates how Halla-aho's campaign images draw from nostalgia, collective memories, (sensory) experiences, national feeling, as well as contemporary social and political challenges to persuade and mobilise voters. In addition to portraying Halla-aho as an ordinary and authentic leader, the campaign images also make implicit arguments, create calculated ambivalence, and engage in dog-whistling to signal to different audiences and mobilise anti-immigration sentiments. By examining the form, content, and function of images, visual rhetorical analysis is argued to provide useful tools to unpack visual populist appeal and develop critical visual literacy skills.
