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This study examines how personal political rebranding is constructed through visual framing by analyzing the transformation of Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto's visual self-presentation on his official Instagram account (@prabowo) between 2015 and 2024. The observation period spans four political phases: opposition, the 2019 presidential campaign, his tenure as Minister of Defense, and the campaign leading to his victory in the 2024 election. Using visual content analysis and adapting the visual framing typology of Grabe and Bucy (2009), the study analyzes 1,236 Instagram posts to identify patterns of continuity and change in visual representation over time. The findings indicate that Prabowo's visual framing evolved across political periods in response to shifting institutional roles and electoral contexts. While ordinariness was more visible during opposition and electoral competition, and compassion and mass appeal intensified in the 2024 campaign, the statesmanship frame remained consistently dominant, forming the core of his symbolic identity. This continuity reveals that personal political rebranding operates through a balance of change and consistency. Despite adaptive shifts in visual narratives, Prabowo consistently maintained key symbolic elements (leadership authority, patriotic imagery, and association with influential figures) ensuring that his constructed image remained recognizable and credible over time. By positioning visual framing as a mechanism of personal political rebranding, this study demonstrates how political actors strategically recalibrate visual meaning to preserve legitimacy while transforming political identity in a dynamic digital environment.
Eriyanto et al. (Thu,) studied this question.