Cringe Communication in Hungarian Politics
Insult Humor as a Campaign Tool in 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.19.2(43).1048Keywords:
Cringe communication, Election campaigning, Hungary, Insult humor, Moral emotionsAbstract
This article examines cringe communication as an emerging form of affective political communication that combines mockery, moral judgement, and partisan mobilization. Drawing on a qualitative multimodal analysis of seven videos produced by the pro-government YouTube channel Patrióta–Trombi Roast during Hungary’s 2024 European Parliament and municipal election campaigns, the study investigates how verbal, visual, and performative cues construct political opponents as cringeworthy. The analysis conceptualizes cringe as a composite emotional configuration blending vicarious embarrassment, contempt, and amusement, and develops a coding framework linking expressive cues, emotional responses, rhetorical devices, and political functions. The findings reveal that cringe communication systematically transforms political opponents into morally inferior, socially embarrassing, and politically illegitimate figures through insult comedy, exaggerated identity markers, and multimodal ridicule. Beyond entertainment, these videos reinforce in-group solidarity, align with governing-party narratives, and contribute to symbolic exclusion.
References
Bajomi‑Lázár, P. (2013). The party colonisation of the media: The case of Hungary. East European Politics and Societies, 27(1), 69–89.
Baranyai, A., Gyulai, A., & Papp, Z. (2025). Hungary: Political developments and data in 2024. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook. https://doi.org/10.1111/2047-8852.70011
Beck, D., & Spencer, A. (2025). (Un)funny against all odds: The changing landscape of humor in politics. Alternatives, 50(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754241290911
Bell, M. (2013). Hard feelings: The moral psychology of contempt. Oxford University Press.
Benedek, I. (2024). Transforming the political public sphere: the media system of the Orbán regime in Hungary. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 17(2), 469–489.
Benedek, I. (2025). Populist autocratization and populist electoral autocracies: Towards a unified conceptual framework. Comparative European Politics, 23, 331–352. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-024-00401-8
Benedek, I. (2026). Polarizing transition? Opposition strategies and the rise of Péter Magyar and the Respect and Freedom Party (TISZA) in Hungary. Comparative European Politics, 24, Article 24. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-026-00460-z
Bitterly, T. B. (2022). Humor and power. Current Opinion in Psychology, 43, 125-128.
Brassett, J., & Browning, C. S. (2025). Lettuce Rejoice in the Downfall of Liz Truss? Humor, Ontological (In)Security and the Politics of Ridicule. Alternatives, 50(1), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754241293619
Carroll, N. (2014). Humor: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Coronel, J. C., O’Donnell, M. B., Pandey, P., Delli Carpini, M. X., & Falk, E. B. (2021). Political Humor, Sharing, and Remembering: Insights from Neuroimaging. Journal of Communication, 71(1), 129–161. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa041
Crozier, W. R. (1998). The psychology of embarrassment. Cognition & Emotion, 12(5), 715–721.
Deonna, J. A., Rodogno, R., & Teroni, F. (2012). In defense of shame: The faces of an emotion. Oxford University Press.
Douglas, M. (1975). Jokes. In Implicit meanings: Essays in anthropology (pp. 90–115). Routledge.
Edelmann, R. J. (1981). Embarrassment: The state of research. Current Psychological Reviews, 1(2), 125–137.
Escoe, B., Martin, N. S., & Salerno, A. (2025). That’s So Cringeworthy! Understanding What Cringe Is and Why We Want to Share It. Journal of Marketing Research, 62(4), 664–683. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437241305104
Ferguson, M. A., & Ford, T. E. (2008). Disparagement humor: A theoretical and empirical review of psychoanalytic, superiority, and social identity theories. HUMOR, 21(3), 283–312. https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMOR.2008.014
Fischer, A. H., & Roseman, I. J. (2007). Beat them or ban them: The characteristics and social functions of anger and contempt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.103
Fischer, T. S., Kolo, C., & Mothes, C. (2022). Political influencers on YouTube: Business strategies and content characteristics. Media and Communication, 10(1), 259–271. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4767
Fraley, B., & Aron, A. (2004). The effect of a shared humorous experience on closeness in initial encounters. Personal Relationships, 11(1), 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2004.00071.x
Fussi, A., & Rodogno, R. (Eds.). (2023). The moral psychology of shame. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
Gibson, R., Bon, E., Darius, P., & Smyth, P. (2023). Are Online Political Influencers Accelerating Democratic Deconsolidation? Media and Communication, 11(3), 175–186.
Gilbert, P. (1998). What is shame? Some core issues and controversies. In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.), Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture (pp. 3–38). Oxford University Press.
Gottlieb, P. (2013). Aristotle’s ethics. In R. Crisp (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the history of ethics (pp. 44–72). Oxford University Press.
Göpfert, M. (2024). Dissonance: Cartooning in Iran, Humor, and the Study of Things That Don’t Match. Cultural Anthropology, 39(4), 645–666. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca39.4.07
Göpfert, M., & N’Guessan, K. (2025, April 29). How the far right uses humor and meme culture to its advantage. Development and Cooperation. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/when-hatred-
wrapped-satire-xenophobia-irony-and-fascism-jokes-it-leaves-mainstream-society
Hacker, P. (2017). Shame, embarrassment, and guilt. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 41(1), 202–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/misp.12073
Harris, C. R. (2006). Embarrassment: A form of social pain: This enigmatic emotion likely evolved to smooth social interactions, but it can have less desirable consequences in the modern world. American scientist, 94(6), 524–533.
Hodson, G., & MacInnis, C. C. (2016). Derogating humor as a delegitimization strategy in intergroup contexts. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(1), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000052
Hodson, G., Rush, J., & MacInnis, C. C. (2010). A joke is just a joke (except when it isn’t): Cavalier humor beliefs facilitate the expression of group dominance motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(4), 660–682. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019627
Horváth, K., Polyák, G., & Urbán, Á. (2025). Outsourced Political Campaign: Role of Pro‑Government Political Influencers in Spreading Hostile Narratives in Hungary. Media and Communication, 13, Article 10671, https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10671
Hye‑Knudsen, M. (2018). Painfully funny: Cringe comedy, benign masochism, and not-so-benign violations. Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English, 2, 13–31.
Hyttinen, A. (2024). Possibilities and limits of political humor in a hybrid regime: A visual ethnographic study of the Hungarian Two‑Tailed Dog Party. The European Journal of Humor Research, 12(1), 171–193. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR.2024.12.1.849
Iché, V., & Schneebeli, C. (2026). Introduction: Charting the territory of twenty-first-century cringe humor. In V. Iché, C. Schneebeli, & L. Blin (Eds.), Cringe humor on screen and in digital media: Pragmatic perspectives (pp. 1–31). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-93002-7_1
Juhász, V. (2025). Influenszer politikusok és politikai influenszerek: A Megafon negatív kampányának argumentatív vizsgálata a közösségi médiában [Influencer Politicians and Political Influencers: An Argumentative Analysis of Megafon’s Negative Campaigning on Social Media]. Politikatudományi szemle, 34(1), 7–30. https://doi.org/10.30718/POLTUD.HU.2025.1.7
Keltner, D., & Buswell, B. N. (1997). Embarrassment: its distinct form and appeasement functions. Psychological bulletin, 122(3), 250.
Klinger, U., Kreiss, D., & Mutsvairo, B. (2023). Platforms, power, and politics: An introduction to political communication in the digital age. John Wiley & Sons.
Kolnai, A. (2003). On disgust. Open Court Publishing.
Krach, S., Cohrs, J. C., de Echeverría Loebell, N. C., Kircher, T., Sommer, J., Jansen, A., & Paulus, F. M. (2011). Your flaws are my pain: Linking empathy to vicarious embarrassment. PLoS ONE, 6(4), e18675. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018675
Kuipers, G. (2011). The politics of humor in the public sphere: Cartoons, power and modernity in the first transnational humor scandal. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(1), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549410370072
Lintott, S. (2016). Superiority in humor theory. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 74(4), 347–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/jaac.12321
Mayer, A., Paulus, F., & Krach, S. (2021). A psychological perspective on vicarious embarrassment and shame in the context of cringe humor. Humanities, 10(4), 110. https://doi.org/10.3390/h10040110
McIlwain, D., Evans, J., Caldis, E., Cicchini, F., Aronstan, A., Wright, A., & Taylor, A. (2012). Strange moralities: Vicarious emotion and moral emotions in Machiavellian and psychopathic personality styles. In R. Langdon & C. Mackenzie (Eds.), Emotions, imagination, and moral reasoning (pp. 119–148). Psychology Press.
Middleton, J. (2014). Documentary’s awkward turn: Cringe comedy and media spectatorship. Routledge.
Mikecz, D., & Szabó A. (2019). Politikai mozgalmak [Political Movements]. In M. Sebők, B. Böcskei (Eds.), Itt van Amerika. Az amerikai politika hatása Magyarországon [This Is America: The Influence of American Politics in Hungary]. Budapest: Atheneum. pp. 268–285.
Morreall, J. (2009). Philosophy and religion. In V. Raskin (Ed.), The primer of humor research (pp. 221–243). Mouton de Gruyter.
Naderer, B. (2023). Influencers as political agents? The potential of an unlikely source to motivate political action. Communications, 48(1), 93–111. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0006
Pandey, S. K. (2025). Media in the Digital Age: Trends, Tools, and Cultural Impact. Academic Guru Publishing House.
Papathanassopoulos, S., & Giannouli, I. (2025). Political Communication in the Age of Platforms. Encyclopedia, 5(2), 77.
Pérez, L. M., & Freier, L. F. (2022). My Brother the “Other”: Use of Satire and Boundary-Making by Venezuelan Migrants in Peru. Social Inclusion, 10(1), 72–83.
Plakias, A. (2024). Awkwardness: A Theory. Oxford University Press.
Political Capital (2025a): Pro-government political advertisements are in record heights in Hungary, promoting hostile narratives against the West. PoliticalCapital.hu (25 April 2025) https://politicalcapital.hu/news.php?article_read=1&article_id=3364
Political Capital (2025b): Uncovering, analyzing, debunking and researching sponsored disinfo – project summary. PoliticalCapital.hu (28 June 2025) https://politicalcapital.hu/news.php?article_read=1&article_id=3405
Roost, K. (2025). Cringe, Mockery, and Belonging: Generational Humor Between Gen Z and Millennials on TikTok. Bachelor’s thesis, Tilburg University. https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=186939.
Scheff, T. J., & Scheele, S. C. (1982). Humor and catharsis: The effect of comedy on audiences. In P. H. Tannenbaum (Ed.), The entertainment functions of television. Psychology Press (pp. 165–182).
Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/
10.4135/9781529682571
Schwanebeck, W. (2021). Introduction to painful laughter: Media and politics in the age of cringe. Humanities, 10(4), 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/h10040123
Seebold, M. (2025). From Embarrassment to Prejudice: Online “Cringe Culture” as an Affective and Social Phenomenon. Sociology Summer Fellows, 7. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/soc_sum/7/.
Smilges, J. L. (2024). Cringe theory. Lateral, 13(1).
Spiegel, T. J. (2025). Cringe. Social Epistemology, 39(3), 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2023.2268588
Stępińska, A., Szabó, G., & Adamczewska, K. (2024). Changes in journalism in politicized media systems: A study on newspapers in Poland and Hungary. Journalism Practice, 18(9), 2433–2453.
Stocks, E. L., Lishner, D. A., Waits, B. L., & Downum, E. M. (2011). I’m embarrassed for you: The effect of valuing and perspective-taking on empathic embarrassment and empathic concern. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00699.x
Swartz, D. (2024). Culture & power: the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. University of Chicago Press.
Szabó, G. (2024). Managing Moral Emotions in Divided Politics: Lessons from Hungary’s 2022 General Election Campaigns. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Verma, T. (2021). Cultural cringe: how caste and class affect the idea of culture in social media. Feminist Media Studies, 21(1), 159–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1864879
Wegner, G. (2021). “Kill the puppies!”: Cringe comedy and disability humor in the live performances of Laurence Clark. Humanities, 10(3), 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/h10030105
Wöhrle, P. (2021). Two shades of cringe: Problems in attributing painful laughter. Humanities, 10(3), 99.
Yılmaz, B. A., & Topsümer, F. (2023). Political communication in the new media environment: The impact of digital transformation on political processes. In: F. Topsümer, Y. Durmuş, & B. A. Yılmaz (Eds.), Media and communication in the digital age: Changes and dynamics (pp. 1–14). Özgür Publications. https://doi.org/10.58830/ozgur.pub234
Zahavi, D. (2020). Shame. In T. Szanto & H. Landweer (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of phenomenology of emotion (pp. 349–357). Routledge.
Zinigrad, R. (2025). Laughing Matters in Courts: Humor’s Role in Normalizing Hate Speech. Alternatives, 50(1), 33–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754241244891
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Polish Communication Association
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
