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What is Political Advertising?Advertising whose central focus is the marketing of ideas, attitudes, and

concerns about public issues, including political concepts and political candidates.

The essential task of political advertising is to gain the confidence of the people for

their acceptance of ideas and, in the case of political campaign advertising, to

influence their vote. Political advertising differs from commercial advertising in

that the product is either a person or a philosophy rather than goods and services,

and, in addition, the advertising objectives must be met within a specific time

frame. Also, political advertising carries a moral implication, because the results

have potentially far-reaching effects on the population at large. Political

advertising raises many controversial social questions concerning the funding of

political campaigns, the truth or reality of political claims, and the likelihood of

slanderous or libelous claims made by political candidates.

Political advertising involves the use of advertising by politicians to bring

their messages to the masses. These usually warn voters that the gates of Hell will

open and demons will eat skin off their still-living victims if voters approve a bond

issue for school playgrounds.

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the

decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political

campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen

or referendums are decided. Political campaigns also include organized efforts to

alter policy within any institution or organization.

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Politics is as old as humankind and is not limited to democratic or

governmental institutions. Some examples of political campaigns are: the effort to

execute or banish Socrates from Athens in the 5th century BC, the uprising of petty

nobility against John of England in the 13th century, or the 2005 push to remove

Michael Eisner from the helm of The Walt Disney Company.

Advertising message:-The message of the campaign contains the ideas that the candidate wants to share

with the voters. The message often consists of several talking points about policy

issues. The points summarize the main ideas of the campaign and are repeated

frequently in order to create a lasting impression with the voters. In many

elections, the opposition party will try to get the candidate "off message" by

bringing up policy or personal questions that are not related to the talking points.

Most campaigns prefer to keep the message broad in order to attract the most

potential voters. A message that is too narrow can alienate voters or slow the

candidate down with explaining details. For example, in the election of 2008 John

McCain originally used a message that focused on his patriotism and political

experience: "Country First"; later the message was changed to shift attention to his

role as "The Original Maverick" within the political establishment. Barack Obama

ran on a consistent, simple message of "change" throughout his campaign. If the

message is crafted carefully, it will assure the candidate a victory at the polls. For a

winning candidate, the message is refined and then becomes his or her political

agenda in office.

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Techniques:-

A campaign team (which may be as small as one inspired individual, or a

heavily-resourced group of professionals) must consider how to communicate the

message of the campaign, recruit volunteers, and raise money. Campaign

advertising draws on techniques from commercial advertising and propaganda. The

avenues available to political campaigns when distributing their messages is

limited by the law, available resources, and the imagination of the campaigns'

participants. These techniques are often combined into a formal strategy known as

the campaign plan. The plan takes account of a campaign's goal, message, target

audience, and resources available. The campaign will typically seek to identify

supporters at the same time as getting its message across.

Other techniques:-

Writing directly to members of the public (either via a professional

marketing firm or, particularly on a small scale, by volunteers)

By distributing leaflets or selling newspapers

Through websites, online communities, and solicited or unsolicited bulk

email[2]

Through a new technique known as Microtargeting that helps identify and

target small demographic slices of voters

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Through a whistlestop tour - a series of brief appearances in several small

towns

Organizing political house parties

Using endorsements of other celebrated party members to boost support

(see coattail effect)

Remaining close to or at home to make speeches to supporters who come

to visit as part of a front porch campaign

Vote-by-mail, previously known as 'absentee ballots' have grown

significantly in importance as an election tool. Today, campaigns in most

states must have a strategy in place to impact early voting

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Political Advertising through different

media:-

Advertising has become inevitable in every sector/ industry, irrespective of

its type, size or reach. Of late, advertising has also entered the business of politics.

Politicians promotes there parties to grab the attention, as well as the hearts, of the

voters. Unlike commercial advertising where products are promoted, political

advertising promotes individual. According to experts, political parties view

election strategically. Not only this, they feel that the strategies involved in

marketing of products and services by the companies.

The history of politics is as old as the history of mankind itself .politicians

have always marketed themselves with an aim to win over their rivals by grabbing

more voters during the election season. Their primary aim behind advertising

themselves and their party is to win over the voters. It is a fact that a lot of hard

work goes into advertising. Many factors have to be considered even before

actually laying out the final plan. The aim is to identify the best strategy that will

usher in success.

Unlike marketing of a product or service which can be extended over the life

of the product, political campaigned is for short term prior to the election and with

the election. Hence, in this short period of time, politicians use various advertising

techniques, like projecting their image and the image of their parties, highlighting

the issues facing the country and their plans to resolve these and also negative

advertising about the opposition parties.

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Traditionally, politicians used newspapers, radio, TV, etc., for promotion

their parties. But with the advent of the Internet and with the explosion of media

and multiple channels, many novel strategies are being framed, though the

traditional methods are still in vogue. Painting the walls with various slogans that

reflect the party’s ideas, displaying banners on the street, distributing pamphlets,

badges, etc., are still being restored to. To see to it that they do not miss out the

valuable votes of the potential voters, politicians are even taking the help of

advertising agencies and professionals. For instance, for preparing the party’s

strategies, congress hired renowned add agencies, crayons, percept and James

Walter Thompson and BJP roped in Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia Consulting.

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Pros and Cons of Political Advertising

Advertising in politics is not a new feature. It has been a part of politics since time

immemorial. There are two types of advertising in the context of political advertising-

positive and negative advertising. If a party tries to project a positive image of itself by

highlighting its achievements when it was in power, it is referred as positive and

advertising. In case of negative advertising, one party tarnishes another’s image by

criticizing it. Both positive and negative advertising are the most common types of

political advertising. Negative advertising is more frequently employed when compared

to positive advertising tics with an aim to tarnish the image of the target party or any

particular candidate.

In the process of tarnishing the rival party, the sponsoring party/ individual tries to

create a positive image of itself / himself. Negative advertising is usually employed to

invoke a negative feeling among the voters about the targeted candidate. These tactics

generally shift the focous from what is really important to what is negligible. It is

believed that negative ads have a greater impact on the minds of the voters than the

positive ones.

There are various strategies that parties employ in negative campaigning. These

include: attacking the opponent’s, personality, record, running ads that degrade the

opposition party’s reputation, leaking out the prejudicial information about the opponent

or his party, etc. For instance, prior to the 15 th Lok Sabha election, the opposition party

tried to tarnish the image of the ruling party by highlighting the 26/11 Mumbai terror

attacks.

Though very often negative advertising gives desired results, one must remember

that it can also boomerang if the message is not conveyed well. In an experimental study

that was conducted in 1985 Garramone assumed that a backlash effect of negative

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advertising resulted due to following reasons: firstly, most viewers condemn advertising

that attacks candidate and such viewers may develop not positive but negative feelings

about the sponsor of the advertisement. Secondly, viewers may perceive negative

advertising as an infringement upon their right in making a decision for themselves. Such

a perception may result in reactance, a boomerang effect in which the individual reacts in

a manner opposite to the persuader’s intention. According to Cathy Allen, President of

Campaign Connection of Seattle, negative Campaigning might be suitable during

political contests in situation such as:

When taking on an incumbent;

When being significantly outspent;

When there is irrefutable information that the opponent has done something

wrong;

When the candidate has little name recognition.

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Political advertising in election:-

The following channel are use by the political parties in the elections .

Celebrities

Election seemed more glamorous with more number of celebrities entering in

politics. All the parties are trying best to attach themselves to the best celebrities

irrespective of area of profession to which he/she belongs. This factor clearly

indicates the intensity of the race. Celebrities are recruited not for campaigning,

but also to be the part of the party. Even celebrities show interest because of many

reason, such as, to gain more publicity, interest to help needy, etc. According too

some reports, many of the actors even charged hefty fees for their appearance in

political meetings as well as tallies. It is also true that some of them get into

politics by themselves with an aim to aerve the country. For instance, tollywood

hero, chiranjeev launced a new party in Andhra Pradesh, ‘Praja Rajyam Party’.

Celebrity endorsement helps both the celebrities and political parties.

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MOBILE PHONES

In today’s world, advertising through mobile phones has acquired great

significance. In fact, mobile phones were used mostly to reach out to the young

voters. Using mobile phones can be more effective, compared to the online media,

because the number of mobile phones subscribers in the country is more than those

of internet. During elections, mobile phones played the role of mobile real-times

newspapers, providing information about the parties and candidates. To be on par

with today’s online generation; even politicians were forced to get tech-savvy

because this technology helped the politicians to connect with electorate faster.

Political parties also used SMS mode to reach out voters. This strategy gained

ground in very short time. To reach out to more number of voters, political parties

targeted them by sending across party logos, ringtones and wall papers of leaders

who were contesting in the elections in form of SMS. The subscriber received

details of the candidates, poll trivia, party meetings, elections rallies, dates of

voting’s, etc. BJP had engaged private companies for placing Bluetooth kiosks in

area like malls to allow people to download messages, pictures and caller tunes

related to party on their mobiles.

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PRINT MEDIA

The lion’s share of the promotional campaign obviously went to the print

media, i.e., newspaper even though there were other platforms like radio. These

communication channels have always been considered the best way to reach out to

the voters because of wide reach. Pamphlets, local, newspaper, magazines, etc.,

can be the best tool for promoting a party or a leader. A lot of money goes into

process of placing the ads in the newspaper, come elections, and one is sure to see

either full or half or even quarter page advertisements of political parties in dailies.

These advertisements help the politicians to reach out to the voters in the fastest

way. According to Ranjan Bargotra, President of Crayons Adverting Ltd., the

agency which handled the promotional campaign of the Congress Party,

“Newspapers account for 50% of any party’s as spends, because it reaches out

masses, yet it is a very localized form of advertising that gets the message across to

the lowest local denomination.”

It is usually believed that bigger the size of the ad in print, greater will be

influence. Various political magazines are also being launched in which the parties

can express their ideologies through advertorials and features. Although it has

occupies largest share in political adverting over years.

.

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RADIO

Radio can be the best local medium available for any party. It can be more

advantageous when compared to TV because of its wider reach and political

parties have leveraged on this advantage in the recent elections extensively. As part

of their political campaigns, both congress with Jai Ho and BJP with its Mazoot

Neta Nirnayak Sarkar slogans have aired programs across many radio channels.

Broadcasting on radio can be cost effective when compared to advertsing through

any other media.

According to Bargotra, “Radio cuts through barriers and have 99% reach. It helps

the parties to plan segment – specific campaigns targeting youth, urban and rural

voters, etc... While print is expensive radio could give more value for less.” Its is

possible to broadcast localized ads on the radio as every region hasits own station,

unlike centralized TV studios. Every district is like a combat zone for a party and a

radio’s localized reach can be beneficial to the parties. Radio can reach out to

people belonging to different strata and also with different literacy. In fact much of

the shares of the print medium were taken by the radio after amendment to tht ALL

INDIA RADIO CODE by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

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Online

Advertising through the online medium can be one of the fastest way to

reach out to the electorate. Also internet can be the best vehicle to get closer to the

voters. Website can act as the best media for both the party and the voters. To be

on even ground with today fast-moving generation, even politicians have gone

online in the recently concluded election. Unlike the traditional process, where

each party was involved in door-to-door campaigning, politicians used either the

internet or mobile phone to reach out to the voters in the recent election. Many of

the parties launched websites that provided all the information abut their parties

message on the party’s’ website were customized to the relevant users.

Today’s young generation is more inclined toward building online

communities through social networking sites. Political parties even used this

medium to target the voters with their message and ads. To get closer to the young

electorate, the congress party hired ignites digital solution to promote its messages

on different sites, like Orkut, Facebook, etc.

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Advani speech uploaded on you tube for younster’s

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The future

Political advertising will continue until voters realize that the public business is too

complex to squeeze into a 30-second spot on television, fully read up on policies

and cast their ballots after a careful period of reflection on what their choice will

mean, both today and tomorrow. Therefore, political advertising will continue

indefinitely

Reference

Advertising Express, October 2009

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Political_advertising

http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/political-advertising/4963733-1.html

http://www.jstor.org/

http://www.scripps.ohiou.edu/wjmcr/

http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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