Role of TV Advertising on Voter Behavior

Under the rubric of the governmental system of the United States of America, political and social constraints are, in theory, supposed to exist between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the government. In practice, it is often the case that one branch or another is more powerful, and in certain cases, more influenced by the media than others. This may be caused by a variety of reasons, but the perception from the public is that television, in particular, combines with other extraneous factors to influence political decisions. For example, many members of the public believe that television ads exert far too much influence on elections in the United States, whether they be local or national (For an extended explanation of the role of the media as perceived by the public, including the factor of lobbying, see R. Cowan, "None Dare Call It Lobbying," Common Cause 15 [1989]: pp. 13-16).

In the 1990s, the role of the media cannot be underemphasized. One need only examine recent history to find that the media captured events, broadcast those events, and hel

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erhaps in a sudden flash of public service. "That would negate the need for any outside intervention and would handle the bulk of the problem" (Tannenbaum and Kostrich, 1983, p. 219). Even though this would be the simplest solution, asking the networks to police themselves is neither realistic nor probable. Networks exist through advertising revenue and rating points, all which would be at risk is political advertising or coverage were limited in any way. Historically, however, political advertising can be divided into two distinct eras: the years before television and the years since television. The "years since," beginning with the 1952 presidential race, becoming important in the 1960 race, and vital to candidates after that, can be called the era of the "30second president." Looking at one early election, the 1960 Nixon versus Kennedy, one can view this campaign as a milestone due to more sophisticated advertising  the marketing of the candidate (Seib, 1987, pp. 120-7). In fact, some of Kennedy's spots had the look of mini documentaries. While Kennedy talked with coal miners, the camera would not focus exclusively on the candidate, but also on the grimecovered face of one of the miners. Surrounded by a crowd of
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Approximate Word count = 1973
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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