Page 135 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 114

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
Labour’s advertising campaign in 2010 stressed the alleged ‘posh-ness’ of
Conservative figures such as David Cameron, and sought to lay claim to the
virtues of stability and experience in a volatile world. One spoof of the
campaign, widely circulated on Twitter and Facebook, depicted a stony-faced
Gordon Brown above the words, ‘Step outside posh boy – vote Labour or else’
(Figure 6.6).
By 2010, however, thirteen years had passed since New Labour’s first
epochal victory and the British people were ready for a change. Labour under
Brown had made too many avoidable mistakes, and slumped to an historic
low in share of the popular vote. Although the Conservatives failed to secure
an overall majority of MPs in the Westminster parliament, they were able to
form a coalition government with the third-placed Liberal Democrats.

POLITICAL ADVERTISING: THE FUTURE

The role and place of advertising in political communication continues to
generate debate, with each new election campaign presenting material for
further controversy, though rarely providing resolution of the issues which
have occupied political and communication scientists ever since the first ‘I
like Ike’ spots. In the US, criticism of the sheer cost of political advertising
remains at the forefront of debate, though the allegedly negative effects of
‘attack’ ads also worry many (Jamieson, 1992). The third edition of
Diamond and Bates’ classic study of American political advertising takes a
pragmatic tone, pointing out, as was noted above, that political campaigns
have always been negative and ‘dirty’ (1992). Kathleen Jamieson, while
complaining of a general deterioration in the quality of mediated political
discourse, to which political advertising has contributed, accepts that

Figure 6.6 Labour’s poster campaign, 2010.

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