Measuring the Candidates’ Emotions in Political Debates Based on Facial Expression Recognition Techniques

This article presents the analysis of the main Spanish political candidates for the elections to be held on April 2019. The analysis focuses on the Facial Expression Analysis (FEA), a technique widely used in neuromarketing research. It allows to identify the microexpressions that are very brief, involuntary. They are signals of hidden emotions that cannot be controlled voluntarily. The video with the final interventions of every candidate has been post-processed using the classification algorithms given by the iMotions’s AFFDEX platform. We have then analyzed these data. Firstly, we have identified and compare the basic emotions showed by each politician. Second, we have associated the basic emotions with specific moments of the candidate’s speech, identifying the topics they address and relating them directly to the expressed emotion. Third, we have analyzed whether the differences shown by each candidate in every emotion are statistically significant. In this sense, we have applied the non-parametric chi-squared goodness-of-fit test. We have also considered the ANOVA analysis in order to test whether, on average, there are differences between the candidates. Finally, we have checked if there is consistency between the results provided by different surveys from the main media in Spain regarding the evaluation of the debate and those obtained in our empirical analysis. A predominance of negative emotions has been observed. Some inconsistencies were found between the emotion expressed in the facial expression and the verbal content of the message. Also, evidences got from statistical analysis confirm that the differences observed between the various candidates with respect to the basic emotions, on average, are statistically significant. In this sense, this article provides a methodological contribution to the analysis of the public figures’ communication, which could help politicians to improve the effectiveness of their messages identifying and evaluating the intensity of the expressed emotions

Efectos de la promoción de ventas en el largo plazo en marcas de fabricante y marcas de distribución en la categoría de bebidas energéticas

In this research, the authors analyze the different types of promotion used by National Brand and Private Label and the long-run effects on sales on both categories. The analysis focusses on the promotional activity undertaken by the leading brands of energy drinks that operate in the domestic market. The survey, based on scanner data al store-level in a series which covers 7 years, provides almost all of the history of the category. In this sub-segment of beverages, there have been significant sales increases in recent years and the brands managed by the retailers have obtained more than half of the share of market in super and hyper channels, overcoming the volume from leading brand in 2004. However the study shows that the effect of promotions in the category in question is less intense in the Private Label than in the National Brand, and that not all the promotion types tested have the same effect, being the display and feature that have an impact higher sales.En esta investigación los autores analizan los diferentes tipos de promoción utilizados tanto por Marcas de Fabricante como por Marcas de Distribución y los efectos producidos en el largo plazo en las ventas en una y otra categoría. El análisis pone el foco en la actividad promocional realizada por las principales marcas de bebidas energéticas que operan en el mercado nacional. El estudio, realizado a partir de datos escáner a nivel de tienda en una serie histórica que abarca 7 años, contempla la casi totalidad de la historia de la categoría. En este sub-segmento concreto de bebidas se han producido crecimientos importantes en ventas en los últimos años, y las marcas puestas a punto por la distribución han logrado hacerse con más de la mitad de la cuota de mercado en los canales híper y súper, superando en volumen a la marca líder a partir del año 2004. Sin embargo el estudio muestra que el efecto en el largo plazo de las promociones en la categoría analizada es menos intenso en las Marcas de Distribución que en las Marcas de Fabricante, y que no todas las técnicas promocionales analizadas tienen el mismo efecto, siendo displays y folletos las que tienen un impacto mayor en las ventas