It’s that time of the political cycle once again, when the public is bombarded with politicians promising to be the next savior of the Philippines through catchy jingles, photo ops with cute children and celebrity endorsers from the most famous to the most obscure. Yes, people, it’s time for the Elections Campaign of 2010
While the official campaign period starts on February 9, 2010, a ruling by the Supreme Court last November 2009 was in favor of the airing of “infomercials” and “advocacy ads” by government officials before the start of the campaign period. The new SC ruling was based on the Election Modernization Act (R.A. 9369) Sec 13 which says, “Any person who files his certificate of candidacy within this period shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy.” In simpler words, as long as the candidate doesn’t outright say that he is running for president or congressman or mayor, he may air the aforementioned infomercials before the start of the campaign period.
And while most of us would rather move to another country to avoid listening to another intrepid TV or radio commercial touting the “next President” of the Philippines, it is hopelessly unavoidable if you own a television set, commute to work on a bus that has a radio or read a newspaper before work. So instead of complaining and bitching about the proliferation of the political ads, why not take this time to actually hear what the candidate has to say, to study the principles that they believe in, what they will be focusing on if they win. Yes, the “infomercials” are not a total representation of the candidate, but it’s a start.
In a blog article that ran on betterphilippines.com, the writer has a theory that all political ads are run by the same group of people, because they all run on just one formula, namely:
1. the ads communicate the message that their candidate is a saviour of some sort
2. visual elements are mostly the same — candidates mingling with ordinary people, distraught people, poor people, etc.
3. the ads highlight at least one all-encompassing promise
4. the ads end with a cheesy slogan
5. the ads are backed by a catchy song
Of course, 30 seconds of airtime and one page of print advertising cannot encompass the whole substance of a candidate’s platform and so they would have to resort to a formula like this. But everyone has to admit, this year’s campaigns have entered a whole new level of play. TV ads have better production values and richer cinematography. Showbiz endorsers aren’t just pretty faces anymore that adorn a billboard or a print ad, but they speak for their respective candidates on a deeper level now. And the addition of social networks as a major player in the campaign, have leveled off the playing field for those who have not enough budget to bombard all major networks with TV ads. As they say, this year is a whole new ballgame when it comes to political ad campaigns
Over the next few days, we will be taking a look at the top candidates’ political ad campaigns and analyzing how their ads are affecting public opinion on them and how this will affect their actual chances on winning the elections
Again, the ads may sometimes annoy the heck out of us, but these are all factors that we can take into consideration to make a wise and informed decision as to who will be the next leaders of our country. So take advantage of this open platform and vote wisely
