Advertising power : political spots and adult education

Abstract

This work is a contextualised study of the political spots produced by Malta's three main political parties Alternattiva Demokratika, Malta Labour Party and the Nationalist Party as broadcast on the local state channel TVM during the September 1998 general election campaign. The principal aims were to analyse political spots in order to establish their quality as manipulative or emancipatory, to determine whether political spots are effective advertising techniques, potentially educative programmes or both and to come up with recommendations regarding the future of such spots. All conclusions drawn were based on the responses elicited from the in-depth interviews and the questionnaire. The results were analysed in the context of a learning society where political education is a lifelong process leading to one's empowerment and emancipation in the process of establishing truly democratic values. As the situation stands, political spots are of short duration, not more than sixty seconds and are aimed at targeting the mass audience of tele viewers being broadcast around prime-time viewing. Although the short-term objective of political spots as effective advertising techniques is being accomplished, the medium-term objective, namely, the swaying of votes, does not seem to be achieving the desired results. The long term objective relating to effective political learning is non-existent. People are aware of the propaganda machine behind such spots and are therefore liable to question the arguments and facts presented thereof. Although political spots can be considered as a weapon of power in the parties' hands, the potential power of political advertising is diminishing in direct proportion to the credibility and validity of the spots themselves.