ENHANCING RE-ELECTION INTENTION THROUGH VISUAL ACCENTUATION STRATEGY: A POLITICAL MARKETING STRATEGY APPROACH

Abstract

This study examines the influence of visual accentuation on re-election intention among Generation Z, with visual appeal as mediating variables. Previous research by Ferdinand and Zuhroh (2022) investigated socio-aesthetic value accentuation (SAVA) in Indonesian SMEs with 178 respondents. Their results showed that accentuating the social and aesthetic value embedded in products could enhance market appeal and strengthen sales performance, indicating that effective aesthetic and social accentuation positively affects consumer behavior. Conversely, Dan and Arendt (2025) found that using visual elements as identity markers on social media was only effective for liberal audiences and did not significantly influence conservative groups, emphasizing that visual cues do not automatically produce the same effects across all audiences due to differences in political identity. This inconsistency highlights the need to examine mediating variables such as visual appeal to understand the psychological processes leading to re-election intention. Addressing this gap, the present study situates visual accentuation within Indonesia’s 2024 Legislative Election, focusing on Jamaludin Malik’s campaign, which employed Ultraman as a distinctive visual accentuation strategy in political communication. Using a quantitative approach and Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS), data were collected from 400 Gen Z respondents in the Central Java II electoral district. The results indicate that visual accentuation significantly affects voters intention to re-elect, with stronger effects observed when the relationship operates indirectly through the mediation of visual appeal and self-brand congruence rather than directly. This study is novel as it is the first to investigate the visual accentuation “Ultraman Jamaludin Malik” political communication strategy in influencing re-election intention among Generation Z in Indonesia.