TIPA - Truth In Political Advertising

Many citizens underestimate the impact of political ads. They somewhat underestimate the impact of ads on others and vastly underestimate the impact of ads on themselves. Indeed, this finding is part of a whole family of odd effects clustered under the phrase "third person effect." The effect, found again and again by researchers, boils down to the fact that most of the people, most of the time, think the media affect others more than themselves. Given, however, that most everyone thinks this, somebody has got to be wrong!

Both pundits and citizens spend a lot of time making fun of political commercials. They're short, simple-minded, and as election day approaches, they become more obnoxiously frequent. There seems good reason to ridicule the idea that they affect how people vote and how they think about government and politicians.

But a large body of studies carried out in the last 15 years shows quite clearly that political commercials have major effects on people. In Presidential elections, television commercials consume most of the money spent by candidates in their attempts to get elected. This is also true of state-level elections.

The bottom line, then, is that it's important for citizens to look carefully at political ads. Certainly the truth or falsity and, regardless of "truth," the deceptiveness of ad content is important to examine. Many newspapers and television analysis programs provide the citizen a good opportunity to learn more about the quality of the verbal content of political commercials. Although a majority of Americans are not aware of this, government closely controls the truth value of national product advertising on television. But because of the principle of free speech, a principle protected by the U.S. Constitution, there is no control whatsoever on the content of a political commercial. Basically, a politician can say anything she or he wishes in a political ad. The only "control" over content in a political ad is media and public response to that content.

But ads communicate more than their verbal content. Like any persuasive message developed by a professional communicator, every aspect of their few-seconds duration is carefully designed to influence. Aspects of ads beyond their verbal content are called structural features. "Dissect An Ad" focuses on these features. It attempts to look at how these features are used in this year's Presidential ads to influence us in ways we may not even be aware of.

Ad-Watcher's Toolkit
9 Structural Features That Create Meaning in Political Ads

This toolbox describes nine of the structural features that political ads use most commonly. Recognizing a persuasive tool for what it is, helps people understand the true impact of ads on themselves and others. Regardless of what verbal content an ad uses, it will employ one or many of these persuasive tools. Recognizing them and figuring out what their intended meaning is can provide important new insight into a political ad.

1. Candidate mythologies
When people think about a political office-holder like the President, Vice President, Governor, of Senator, they often, unbeknownst to themselves, associate mythological features to that person. Common mythologies about the U.S. President represent him as:

b. Man of the people

These perceptions are "myths" in that they carry a lot of cultural baggage with them, but they are never true features of a president. They're used, however, to create emotion in viewers. If that face up on the screen asking for your vote is "your friend," you feel differently about him. If he's a "hero," he may make you feel proud or safe. If he's "your father," you may feel trustful of him.

Myths like these are generally not spoken, but represented in images. A candidate shown with people trying to touch him, shake his hand, of clapping for him, is being represented as a hero. Shown with his family, he's obviously a father, but he's also a father when shown kissing babies or supporting laws that aid children. Probably the most common spoken myth is "friend." "Friend of the people," "the working man's friend," are popular ad phrases. Clasping a voter around the shoulders or a warm hand-shake visually represents "friend."

2. Background locations
Where the candidate is when he is shown, or where the opponent is shown to be in an attack ad, is critically important to what is being communicated. Kennedy was shown walking along the beach. Perot is almost always in a paneled den or office. Clinton is most frequently surrounded by people. Dole is sometimes shown in his Kansas home town. Each of the backgrounds is used to communicate a variety of things about the candidate.

3. Props
Props are objects shown in the scenes. The most common prop is the American flag. Desks are important props. A recent candidate showed us a denuded tree in a dessert as a prop representing what would happen if his opponent were elected. Headlines in newspapers are props used to verify statistical and factual claims ("If the newspaper said it, it must be true.") A podium is a prop, or sometimes other people serve as props. A recent U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin used a cardboard standup of Elvis as a prop!

4. Emotion-communicating faces
While any scene, any piece of music, any statement can induce emotion, the most common emotional device is the human face: the fear and anger in the face of teen druggie, the admiration and enthusiasm in crowd faces, babies' faces crying, fierce, uncaring expressions on the faces of opponents. All of these faces and their expressions are carefully planted in ads. A most common approach is to take the face of an opponent at its most unattractive and show that face as background for words written on the screen to indicate what awful things he has done. Faces are probably a candidate's most direct conduit to creating feelings in viewers.

5. Appeals
Every ad is designed to appeal to something in the viewer him- or herself. Insurance ads appeal to fears of disasters. Cosmetics appeal to personal ego. Many high-ticket products appeal to greed. Candidates appeal to feelings of patriotism, fears of such things as war, crime, loss of jobs, poor education for children and so on. Attack ads usually appeal to fear--of a variety of sorts. "You can't trust this guy." "This guy will take health benefits away from your parents." "This guy will lead us into war." And on and on. Every political ad has a central and sometimes several more minor appeals. Appeals are often what political consultants search for and term "hot buttons." Hot buttons are appeals that work very effectively with a large percent of the population of voters.

6. Music and background sounds
Almost all political ads use music. It's usually orchestral, stately, designed to sound inspiring to a broad spectrum of listeners. Volume of music is very important. A common approach is have a crescendo of sound at the end an ad. Background music is borrowed from horror movies when the ad attacks an opponent. Music is often fiercely patriotic-sounding.

Background noises are important and seldom consciously noticed by viewers. Sirens, traffic noise, drumbeats are commonly employed. A good way to pick up use of music and background sounds, of course, is t look away from the screen during the ad. You'll find a lot going on there that you'd otherwise be unlikely to notice.

7. Film editing and camera use
Slow-motion is commonly used to increase the salience of an image. Extreme close-ups increase our perceptions of importance. They're also used to emphasize emotion, evil, and truthfulness. Often the camera comes in closer to the candidate as he begins his pledge to usvoters--whatever that pledge may be. Jump-cuts occur when scenes areedited together and the central figure moves suddenly from one location to another. In Doles's "Threat" ad, you can see a big jump-cut as we approach the young man represented as a druggie toward the end of the ad. Shooting from above the candidate when he's greeting a crowd provides an impression of warmth and bonding. Black and white pictures usually mean the topic is serious and, most likely, negative.

8. Clothing
What a candidate is wearing is carefully chosen to show the viewer something "important" about him. An expensive suit shows power, taste, authority. Shirt sleeves show hard work and empathy with ordinary people. Jacket over the shoulder shows ease, warmth, confidence. A loosened tie usually indicates the same characteristics. When women start running for President, the variety in clothing and its use will probably get a lot more interesting.

9. Depicted actions
What the candidate is doing in a support ad and what the opponent is doing in an attack ad is important. Getting off a plane shows characteristics like international expertise and concern, familiarity and caring about the whole country, or just plain old power. Interacting with the family shows caring. Holding hands with a spouse does the same. Signing papers shows ability to get important things done. Greeting ordinary people shows popularity and caring. Speaking from a podium emphasizes power and good ideas.

In the opponent, the activity is sometimes representing as "silly" or weak. A good example is Dukakis's helmeted head popping out of the top of an army tank. The opponent is sometimes shown with an incriminating "other." (This year that "other" is often Newt Gingrich.) Candidates are usually doing things in color. Opponents are usually doing things in black and white.