Page 117 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

Elsenhower’s spontaneity was articulated in a series of ‘Eisenhower
Answers America’ spots, showing him answering questions from the
American public. The setting up of the questions and answers was
far from being spontaneous, of course, and to a 1990s audience the
results look stilted and clumsy. Eisenhower, nevertheless, won the
election, reinforcing a growing belief in political advertising’s
effectiveness as a campaigning instrument.
The ‘Eisenhower Answers America’ spots were primitive, but
nevertheless established political advertising as an essential element
of any self-respecting candidate’s armoury. From the 1952 campaign
onwards, ‘spot’ political advertising increased in sophistication and
production values, acquiring what Diamond and Bates describe as
‘distinctive rhetorical modes and visual styles’ (1992, p.x), with several
trends clearly apparent.

The shrinking spot

Firstly, US political ads have tended to become shorter in duration.
Although the Eisenhower spots were relatively brief (around 30
seconds), the 1956 campaign saw the introduction of five-minute
advertisements, sandwiched between popular entertainment
programmes in an effort to benefit from the latter’s large audience
share. Candidates also bought airtime in 30-minute chunks, which
were then used to elaborate at length on their policy positions.
Research found, however, that audiences quickly grew bored with
advertisements of such length, and switched off (literally or
figuratively). In response, political advertisers moved towards shorter
spots after 1956. With some exceptions (such as Ross Perot’s 1992
presidential campaign) the preference of campaign organisers ever
since has been for 30- or 60-second spots. This format is clearly not
one in which campaign issues and candidate’s policies can be discussed
at any length, giving rise to the aforementioned criticism of
advertising’s negative impact on the political process. The form of
the 30/60-second spots, it is argued, determines a content which is
inevitably grounded in image rather than substantive issues.

The rise of image
The second general trend in US political advertising, then, is towards
greater emphasis on the construction of a candidate’s image (or the
destruction of an opponent’s), and away from the communication of
an issue or policy position. Richard Joslyn observes that of 506 ‘spots’

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