8/7/2019 Political Advertising on Television

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Political Advertising on Television

Various Means for Political Campaigns

Throughout history, politicians have used various methods, such as pamphlets, circulars, fliers, billboards, bumper stickers, or 

similar forms of written communication, whistle-stop speeches, and political rallies, to achieve their primary goal of winning votes.

However, over the years, politicians have found that it is most advantageous to use political advertising on television to persuadevoters. Because political advertising, unlike product advertising, endeavors to get results in a short period of time, political

advertising becomes more aggressive in its approach.

Political practitioners use several kinds of aggressive political advertising strategies like image-building, and opponent's image-

demolishing advertisements to achieve their goal. In political advertisements, opponent's image-demolishing advertisements fallunder the category of negative advertising. Although there existed no rule against using political advertising, prior to the 1977

general election, candidates usually used issue or image ads at the beginning of a campaign to establish their positive image and

then used negative ads at the end of the campaign to attack the opponent. However, in India, those strategies were abandoned in the

 post-emergency period.

The Involvement of Mass Media in Political Campaigns

There has been much discussion about how mass media presents and can determine the outcome of presidential elections. Themedia has been accused of focusing on subjects such as the politician's personal life and their characteristics rather than looking at

the political issues of the election. The voter's views can also be altered by political advertisements that do not focus on issues.This can cause the voters to believe that certain issues are important when in reality they are trivial concerns. Elections often

 become popularity contests because of the polling that is done by newspapers and TV news programs prior to the actual voting.

Politicians then can have a difficult time guiding voter's opinions on their concerns.

Commercial advertisements used in political elections are used to get voters to take the position of a certain politician. The

commercials want to apply that one candidate is better than another and it is vital for the viewer to vote or not vote for that

candidate. However, sometimes these commercials make false claims and this can make it complicated for voters to choose the

right candidate. For voters, making a wrong decision during an election can sometimes have serious consequences. However, not

all advertising has an adverse effect on elections. Some advertisements can become very useful to the voters by telling them aboutthe candidates and informing them about what is at stake during the election.

To many people first impressions and the image of people are very important. The media creates the image of many candidates.

The impression a candidate gives can assist voters on forming an opinion about that politician.

Politics and Media in the US

September 11, 2001. After the bombings of the Twin Towers in New York, the media had a field day. There was not one single

television show, newspaper, or magazine that did not discuss in depth this huge national catastrophe. President, George Bush had

approval ratings in the ninetieth percentile for a job well done in handling this tragedy and demonstrating a strong sense of 

nationalism and patriotism. He catered toward the wants of the American citizens and the media exploded. Eventually, after redundant repetition of the catastrophic events of September eleventh, the public began to tune out and become somewhat tiresome.

On top of that the war in Iraq has brought Bush's approval ratings down to a mere thirty six percent.

Politics, corporations, media, and the public are in a constant cycle. The large corporations at the top possess a great deal of 

 power. They have strong influence over politics and the media because of economic reasons--money talks and politics has strong

influence over the public. The large corporations give money and funding to politics and media that reflects their views. For 

example, in the US, CNN is a highly Republican based television network. The large corporation that funds CNN would not allowsomeone who went against their ideals to be a part of their network. At the same time, politics and large corporations are catering

to the public wants and demands because they need the support of the people. Like when Bush was catering to the people of their nation during the September eleventh crisis. So everything works in a cyclic formation.

Media seems to be everywhere these days-- television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet-- and is an important way of 

simultaneous public communication. "Over 98 percent of American households own at least one TV" (Wasserman, 237). That

statement says a lot about our culture and the way we receive and digest information, including that of politics.