The rise of political advertising on television in South Africa and its implications for democracy.
Date
2011-04-26
Authors
Sindane, Sibongile
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Abstract
The general debate around political advertising on television has been that the political
advertisements on television concentrate more on the images rather than the political issues and thus,
create an electorate who is entertained by the catchy slogans and this hinders a well informed
decision. The study investigates the rise of political advertising on television in South Africa and its
implications for democracy. It is focused on the 2009 pre-elections and specifically on the political
advertisements which appeared on national television during the pre-election period beginning from
30th March 2009 up until 20th April 2009. The study also examines the extent to which political
advertisements on television commodify politics. Furthermore, it explores the themes covered in the
political advertisements on television and the extent to which these political advertisements focus on
the images than the themes. In addition, the study also looks into the underlying issues and
complexities, such as regulation and funding and financing issues which are hidden from the public
glare, accompanying the images and messages seen on television around election time. Qualitative
methods are used and the study is both descriptive and explorative and as means of interpreting the
data, thematic content analysis is used. The critical political economy of the media theory is employed
as well as the democratic theories of the media, with a key focus on liberal democracy and
deliberative democracy. Thus the findings showed that the political advertisements on television in
South Africa were informative as they concentrated more on the themes than the images and, in many
instances where the images were used it was mainly to support the message. However, the political
advertisements had some emotional appeals which communicated emotions of sadness and despair as
well as emotions of happiness and success. Character appeals were used at minimum and it was only
three political parties which made use of their leaders with only one political party, out of the three,
using their leader throughout the advertisement. The issue of commodity in politics was very
prominent in the political advertisements on television thus it can be concluded that political
advertising on television commodify politics to a large extent in the production and distribution
process but to a minimum extent in the content. The implications of the rise of political advertising on
television for democracy are twofold because they are both positive and negative. It is recommended
that the regulations on political advertising on television be re-visited and reviewed. Thus, a
prospective model for the regulation of political advertising on television is also illustrated in the
study.
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Keywords
Political advertising on television, Image themes, 2009 pre-elections, Political parties, Electorate, Commodity, Democracy