Sunday, June 17, 2012

Change the channel; Mute the sound; TURN IT OFF!

Synopsis: Political ads have never been a good source of information for electing candidates to office, and it is only getting worse. The good news is we can do something about it.


I have been watching some of the “mini” campaigns taking place that have led to what appears to be and bitter and expensive fight by the Democrats and GOP as the general election date approaches. The mini campaigns, such as state primaries, voting on referendums, and recalls of contentious statutes passed by state legislations, have served as a precursor to what is next. It is far from encouraging.

For instance, take the Proposition 29 tobacco tax referendum recently voted upon in California. In a nutshell, the referendum would have taxed a pack of cigarettes an additional $1.00 which would go towards cancer research and other health causes related to cigarette usage. Up until a few weeks prior to the election date, it was warmly received according to the polls and appeared to be a shoe-in for passage. For the most part, people agreed with the proponents that maintained it would be a deterrent to smoking because of the expense and it would help with greater research efforts. The opponents argue that it doesn’t help California’s budget hole and there was no guarantee where the money was going, much of which might leave the state. The opponents were losing this argument.

That is, until the political ads started to appear in force. Backed by the Tobacco Trade Institute, an organization supported by the major tobacco businesses, poured millions of dollars into the political referendum to persuade people in voting Proposition 29 down. The ads focused on lack of accountability, no specific benefit for treatment, and how dollars would go out of state. If you weren’t exposed to the blitz, here is a 30-second commercial just to whet your whistle: No on Proposition 29 ad

Now, I’m not here to debate the pros and cons of the referendum, but it was interesting to see how an almost sure victory for those that wanted the measure passed turned into a loss in a short period of time. The tobacco groups spent over $40 million dollars to blanket the population with ads that, if any independent voice would attest to, contained a minimum of true statements, several half-truths, and at least one or two lies. The plastering of all the anti-tax advertising did have a very significant effect on the outcome of the election. In short, advertising works and works well.



Think about it. I would bet almost all voting Californians had a decision on how they felt about which way they would vote on this issue once they heard about the referendum. Some of them changed their minds, enough to swing the election result from passage to rejection. But I would also bet that most people would say it wasn’t the political ads that moved their vote. People don’t want to think any amount of advertising moves their position on a given issue or candidate. To say we are suggests we are weak-minded and gullible to the persuasiveness of Madison Avenue. The truth is, we are. If we weren’t, the billions and billions of dollars plunged into product marketing advertising wouldn’t be spent.

So here comes another big presidential election with a lot at stake and, more importantly to big interest groups, policy changes that could materially affect their bottom line. Sheldon Adelson, the gambling tycoon from Las Vegas, has suggested he will offer $100 million dollars of his own spending to the Romney SuperPacs. Total spending just on the presidential campaign is guaranteed to exceed a billion dollars for Romney with Obama’s expected to be a little less. They are spending about $6-7 on every man, women, and child in the USA to compel voters to vote their way. Just like the Proposition 29 referendum ad blitz, it is likely to contain a mixture of truths, half-truths, and downright lies. From the standpoint of providing a reasoned and informed decision to which is the best candidate, they offer nothing. Even if you like the candidate, it doesn’t do any good to use as a source to rebut views others may have. The best thing we can do is to not watch them. This totally diffuses the effect and impact of the mega-blitz advertising efforts done by the few individuals and interest groups supporting them.

Because the advertisements are blanketed on all forms of media, what can you do to avoid the onslaught? It’s everywhere! How can they be avoided?

I know this may seem like a foreign concept, but we don’t HAVE to watch them. Really! Nothing is forcing you to put up with the crap and substanceless content. It isn’t even that hard. Take TV. A political ad comes up on the screen, you can A) mind-numbly watch the stupid ad or, B) turn off the ad. Answer: B. And, you have several possible actions to accomplish B. You can change the channel. You can mute the sound and talk with others while you wait. You can leave the room (it would be a great time to go to the bathroom or get a snack). You can even do the ultimate form of rejection; TURN IT OFF!

Come on, we all have remote controls, use them to beat away this form of noxious persuasion. Can you imagine the effect if millions of people did this? How many stations and broadcast networks want people to change channels or turn off the TV because of advertising they find offensive. If there was a significant number of verifiable viewership loss due to political ads, wouldn’t the television stations try to avoid political ads? Maybe this is just a dream and has no chance of happening, but if would be nice to see a deterrent to political ad broadcasting instead of the positive boondoggle they now reap because of the dollars poured into their revenue stream. We can effect change by voting with our remote controls.

By the way, this works for radio, internet, phones, and any other form of mass advertisement. They all have alternatives. For myself, I have developed the habit of moving to a different tab on my internet browser while an ad plays and then switching back when it is over. This is a good tip for all you Zynga Word With Friends players out there stuck watching an ad for hair removal or whatever. They don’t know you aren’t watching them.

Look, it is important we fight back against the negative benefits of the caustic vacuous political ad content prevalent in modern campaigns. If they were to become a reliable source of information to provide an informed view of the candidate or issue, obviously it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not going to happen and they will use the one strength they have; give zillions of bucks to spread lies and deceit. The funny thing is, it depends on us in putting up with it. We do have the final say. We can decide not to listen. The only thing we need to do is to consciously act and negate their attempts. Here is my mantra for the remaining election period:

Change the channel; Mute the sound; TURN IT OFF!

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