Page 130 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

ADVERTISING

status of the witness is (the advertiser hopes) transferred to the
candidate/product.
To this list Jamieson adds the neutral reporter format, in which
the viewer is presented with a series of apparently factual statements
about a candidate (or the opponent) and then invited to make a
judgment. While ‘neutrality’ is obviously absent from such an
advertisement (the tactic is used frequently in the most cynically
negative of spots) the speaker adopts the narrative conventions
which signify neutrality and objectivity to impart the message. The
intended impression is one of neutrality.
From the professional perspective of the advertiser, each of these
types of ad will present different problems and objectives. Some-
times (though relatively rarely, as we have seen) the goal of an ad
will be to articulate policy. Elsewhere, particularly in relation to an
incumbent’s campaign for re-election, it will be necessary to claim
credit for real or alleged successes. The challenger’s advertising, on
the other hand, will aim to prioritise the real or alleged failures
of the incumbent. In other cases still, the aim of the ad will be
problem-identification. A key element of Ross Perot’s 1992
television campaign, for example, was to identify for voters a
problem – the economy and how to improve it – which he felt was
being neglected. Problem-identification of this type may also be
thought of as agenda-setting.
Diamond and Bates (1992) identify four phases of a typical US
political advertising campaign:

• First, the basic identity of the candidate must be established as
a foundation on which to build subsequent information. In this
phase, positive biographical details are highlighted, such as a
distinguished war record (a tactic used by John F. Kennedy and
George Bush in their presidential campaigns), or outstanding
business success.
• Second, the candidate’s policies are established in broad terms
with the minimum of extraneous detail, and with emotional
charge (as in Bush’s ‘Read my lips! No new taxes!’ slogan, or
Bill Clinton’s ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, also of 1992).
• Third, the opponent should be attacked, using negatives.
• And finally, the candidate must be endowed with positive
meaning in the context of the values and aspirations of the elec-
torate (as these have been identified by market researchers). In
this phase the campaign will seek to synthesise and integrate the
candidate’s positive features, allowing him or her to acquire

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