Politics is perception, an old saying goes.
Nowhere is this saying more true and apt than in Philippine politics where perception is almost everything. And in Philippine politics, the war on perception is normally waged through mass media and during elections, through political advertisements.
The inevitable role of mass media in politics, and modern political campaigns cannot be denied. In fact, a lot of studies show that political candidates have depended heavily on both electronic and print media channels to send their messages across voters. The reason why critics often complain that candidates don’t even wage their campaigns on issues anymore but instead rely on professional media consultants to package them and sell them like any other product.
In a study (Farha and Hamdar 2008) conducted, the researchers noted that political advertisements since these are not everyday occurrences, generate a unique level of attentiveness and are more efficient message transmitters than news stories. Since repetition plays a key role in learning, constant repetition of political advertisements inculcates specific messages helping form either positive perception for the candidate controlling the ads.
A study looking at the impact of political ads in the 2004 and 2007 elections shows that political ads “contributed a lot” to the result of these elections. The study was conducted by a group of experts, including Pulse Asia Chief Research fellow Dr. Ana Tabunda. The study’s findings reveal that political ads serve as a source of information for first-time voters and a gauge of sincerity on the other hand for older voters.
No other presidentiable has capitalized on this fact more than Manny Villar.
Dazzle Them with Ads
A full year before the official campaign period started last February 10, 2010, Villar already spent P83 million in ad placements according to AGB-Nielsen Media Research Philippines—a market research firm in the Philippines specializing in broadcast media e.g. television ratings. By last quarter of 2009, a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report noted that Villar achieved a first for a political candidate when he landed no. 14 on the list of the top 20 advertisers in the country, which before was exclusively the turf of multinational and transnational corporations with huge advertising budgets.
In fact, according to PCIJ, Villar was the only political personality in the list, with the advertiser list comprised of multinational consumer brands selling anything from shampoo to toothpaste to mobile phones to cough syrups.
By first quarter of 2010, Villar’s ad volume increased to a whopping 6,575% with P1.23 billion compared to his last quarter ad placements of only P18 million.
According to AGB-Nielsen, Villar’s ad placements was so huge that from his 14th spot among the top 20 top advertisers of 2009, Villar is now ranked No. 6 among the top 20 advertisers trumping big corporations like Jollibee, Globe Telecom, Universal Robina Corporation and Monde Nissin Corporation. Villar joined the five big league advertisers Unilever Philippines, Inc. (P5.878 billion), Procter & Gamble Philippines, Inc. (P4.166 billion), United Laboratories, Inc. (3.07 billion), Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, Inc. (P2.68 billion), and Nestle Philippines, Inc. (P2.66 billion).
Brilliant Packaging
Although a lot of political advertisements indeed follow a simple and almost uniform format i.e. (1) it communicates a message that the candidate is some sort of a saviour; (2) that the candidate is for the masses or ordinary and/or poor people; (3) it contains one all-encompassing promise; (4) it has a catchy slogan; and (5) it has a popular jingle, the brilliant packaging and messaging done by Villar’s media and advertising consultants have to be cited.
The fact that Villar became Noynoy Aquino’s main competitor (even managing to stay ahead of Nonoy Aquino in one survey period) was largely credited to his political advertisements. The packaging of Villar was no less brilliant. A poor boy who grew up in a poor community but who became rich and famous through sheer hard work and perseverance or “sipag at tiyaga” has a resonance with ordinary people. It delivers not only a message of hope that everybody can achieve the same as long as they are willing to work for it but also promises that “Villar as President of the country” would be there to help them achieve it.
Violating Election Rules
As set forth under the Fair Election Practices Act or Republic Act No. 9006, each candidate is only allowed a maximum airtime of 120 minutes for television ads and 180 minutes for radio ads for each station during the official campaign period. Also, the spending limit as provided under the law is for P10 per voter for candidates, or P500 million, and P5 per candidate for the political party for all its candidates or P250 million.
With P1.23 billion just for the quarter of 2010, Villar seems to be violating the rules. However, since the Amended Election Modernization Act or Republic Act No. 9369 states that a candidate is considered a candidate only “at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy” and a Supreme Court ruling last November stating that, “The effective date when partisan political acts become unlawful as to a candidate is when the campaign period starts. Before the start of the campaign period, the same partisan political acts are lawful,” Villar and other candidates who also invested in political advertisements before the official campaign period may have gotten away with their unregulated advertisements.
Beyond the Packaging
Beyond the carefully cultivated “poor boy who got rich through sipag and tiyaga” image, critics have raised for example the fact that Villar has been attending private schools when he was a boy contrary to the perception that Villar’s family was poor since private schools are often the domain of the rich and the elite in the Philippines. Aside from the slogan, it is not clear what programs Villar will promote to really uplift majority of the people from poverty except perhaps in saying that everyone can do it through “sipag and tiyaga.” Critics also say that instead of sipag and tiyaga, Villar used his position as Senate President to get C5 rerouted to benefit him and his subdivisions. The government paid Villar’s companies almost 141 million for the C5 “right of way.”
With the loose rules on election spending, political candidates with enough resources like Manny Villar have the power to alter perceptions and encourage voters to vote for them. One should therefore be more conscientious and go beyond these political advertisements. Examine the candidate’s platforms, analyze their opinions on issues, scrutinize their track record, check the veracity of facts around scandals the candidates have been involved with, etc.
References:
http://www.betterphilippines.com/voters-education/
adding-more-substance-to-political-ads/
http://pcij.org/stories/villar-aquino-selling-
like-soap-shampoo-deodorant/
Farha, George and Bassam C. Hamdar, “The Impact of
Perceived Political Advertising: The 2005 Lebanese Parliamentary Election,” American
Communication Journal, Volume 10, Issue 3, Fall 2008. http://www.acjournal.org/holdings
/vol10/03_Fall/articles/Farha&Hamdar.php
“Biocca, 1991; Allam, 1993; Nassif and Bou Monsif,
1996; West, 2000, Butler, David and Kavanagh, 2001, Moussalim, 2003, and Atkin
& Heald, 1976,” as cited in Farha, George and Bassam C. Hamdar, “The Impact of
Perceived Political Advertising: The 2005 Lebanese Parliamentary Election,” American
Communication Journal, Volume 10, Issue 3, Fall 2008. http://www.acjournal.org/holdings/
vol10/03_Fall/articles/Farha&Hamdar.php
http://pcij.org/stories/war-on-the-air-waves-6
-top-bets-spend-p1-b-on-%E2%80%98pol-ads%E2%80%99/
