POLITICALADVERTISING

All sorts of propaganda rely on emotional appeals to get their message across … In 1940, such [appeals] were found in virtually every sentence of campaign propaganda.

- Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet (scholars, 1944)

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contentsintroduction

characteristicsADEX (adv. expend)

general elections 2004

introduction•Horstetter, Zukin and Buss (1978) as cited in Kaid (2004), that ads increased viewers levels of information.•Benze and DeClerq (1985) found image content more prevalent than issues for candidates of both sexes. •Political communication, requires three participating actors (the candidate, the voter, and the journalist) to perform well-defined functions.

the communication process by which a source purchases

the opportunity to expose receivers through mass

channels to political messages with the intended effect of

influencing their political attitudes, beliefs, and

behaviors.in context of the traditional

who says what to whom with what effect – the famous

Lasswell (1948)

definition

•1) control of message•2) use of communication channels for message distribution

characteristics

•Prospective; Focuses on issue content and position taking.•Retrospective; Less ‘responsible’, focuses on credit claiming & blaming placing.•Benevolent leader; Emphasizes on candidate qualities

ads elements

•Politicians strive for frequent and ample coverage in free media especially on tv.

•Regular media coverage; is ‘free’, allows candidates to appear in media for free sometimes on public tv and radio. (e.g., the news)•Paid media; allow candidates to decide what, when & how long they are covered for.

free&paid media

Ex:

US

A

USA;

RM 2.9bTotal adv spending in first half of 2008 ..4 hours

TV viewing is at a RECORD LEVELwith the average person watching more than..

a day in 2010.

RM 1.6bAd revenues in newspaper, a growth ofsince H1 2007

16% RM 948mGrowth of TV advertising

ADEXadvertising expenditure

RM 47 m

ALL TOP 3 – TELCO COMPANIES; CELCOM (RM 95m), DIGI (RM51m) & MAXIS (RM 44.7m)

BARISAN NASIONAL

OUTDOOR

CAN REACH RM 6 b or 11% growth

MEDIA & DIGITAL

ADVERTISING

TOP LEADIND BRANDs

4TH PLACE, WITH

Top Brand in H1 2008 Rank H1 2007

(RM’000)

H1 2008

(RM’000)

Increase vs. H1

2007 (RM’000)

Celcom 1 48, 069 94, 984 98%

DiGi 2 74, 181 51, 004 -31%

Maxis 3 52, 403 44, 711 -15%

Barisan Nasional 4 47 27, 893 58900%

Grand Brilliance 5 5, 387 22, 932 326%

TM 6 27, 367 22, 530 -18%

Petronas 7 21, 503 21, 175 -2%

KFC 8 15, 688 20, 166 29%

Air Asia 9 10, 146 18, 992 87%

Giant 10 13, 668 18, 018 32%

Top Brands RM (million)

Celcom 95.0

DiGi 51.0

Maxis 44.7

Barisan Nasional 27.9

Table 1. Source: Nielsen Media Research Service; Media Specialists Association; “Newspaper and TV Ads Drive Strong Adex Growth” by The Star, 16 August 2008

Top Growth Category in H1 2008 Rank H1 2007

(RM’000)

H1 2008

(RM’000)

Increase vs. H1

2007 (RM’000)

Political Parties 1 480 30, 750 30, 370

Airlines 2 21, 543 45, 249 23, 717

Government Institutions-Local 3 74, 386 95, 470 21, 084

University 4 26, 068 41, 816 15, 748

Tonic & Vitamin 5 27, 057 42, 480 15, 423

generalelections ‘04

mainstream •Mainstream Malaysian newspapers and television broadcasters have extremely close links with the governing parties.• Print media, major newspapers -3 English, 2 Malay, 5e Chinese, and 2 Tamil-language dailies. •In broadcast media, Radio Television Malaysia is the public service broadcaster which provides two free-to-air television channels.• Four privately owned free-to-air television channels, and a growing number of private subscription-based channels.

General elections ‘04

•BN - least three different advertising agencies. TVC were produced by Leo Burnett while two other agencies responsible for print and poster campaigns. •Ad blitz;TV, radio, print media, billboards and for the first time, direct mail. •The product advertised was Abdullah Badawi of the BN. •Compared with previous campaigns, the 2004 ads were designed to transmit the ‘feel good’ factor rather than to use threats

Mainstream Daily Circulation

Berita Harian 218,000

Utusan Malaysia 238,000

Nanyang Siang Pau 148,000

Sin Chew Daily 300,000

New Straits Times 147,000

The Star 293,000

Table 6: Statistics for audited circulation for the year 2004 as acquired from Media Guide 2005

Medium of Language Frequency Percentage

Malay dailies 1,157 27.1

Chinese dailies 2,138 50.2

English dailies 967 22.7

Table 8: Quantity of news items according to medium of language

Newspaper dailies of three main languages

Medium of Language Pro- BN Against-

BN

Neutral Pro- Opp. Against-

Opp.

Malay dailies (n=1,157) 545

(47.10%)

13

(1.12%)

486

(42.01%)

63 (5.45%) 50

(4.32%)

Chinese dailies (n=2,138) 660

(30.87%)

139

(6.50%)

925

(43.26%)

249

(11.65%)

165

(7.72%)

English dailies (n=967) 428

(44.26%)

35

(3.62%)

323

(33.40%)

100

(10.34%)

81

(8.38%)

Medium of Language Political Parties Other Sources

Malay dailies (n=1,157) 578 (49.96%) 579 (50.04%)

Chinese dailies (n=2,138) 677 (31.67%) 1,461 (68.33%)

English dailies (n=967) 432 (44.67%) 535 (55.33%)

Table 9: News directions according to medium of language

Table 10: News items quoted from leaders of political parties and other sources

•6.6 % of the political information during the campaign period of 14 - 21 March 2004 were commercial in nature. •Out of the total of 4,562 items that under study, 300 items were found as sponsored information or political advertising.• Further examination on the sponsors to these ads, it was obv the ruling political party contributed 79.7 percent of the total political advertising in mainstream dailies.

findings

•In countries with parliamentary systems, it is usually the party that governed the country has the most dominant role.•Thus, encourages party bias.•GE ‘04 the directions during the said election had shown that the local mainstream dailies, regardless of languages, were more in favour of the ruling political party.

conclusion