Page 129 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

Figure 6.1 Labour’s ‘Tax Bombshell’
Source: Reproduced courtesy of Conservative Central Office.

It was later revealed that the scene had been rehearsed and the area
secured well in advance of Major’s arrival, but the broadcast
succeeded for many in conveying Major’s lowermiddle-class social
origins to an audience widely perceived to be fed up with 13 years
of Margaret Thatcher’s haughty grandeur. The Conservatives’
advertising in the run-up to, and during, the 1997 campaign was
less successful. As was noted in Chapter 3 above, the effects of
political advertising are determined not by content alone, but by
the environmental context within which a political message is sent
and received. Between 1992 and 1997, much had changed in British
politics. The Labour Party had renewed itself under the leadership
of Tony Blair, while the Tories had been damaged by mediafuelled
perceptions (reasonably accurate) of moral and financial sleaze on

112