Political ADgenda

Political ADgenda: How the politicians use pre-campaign television advertisements and how the youth react to it

Bautista, B. S. & Bautista, G. P. H. (2010), Political ADgenda: How the politicians use pre-campaign television advertisements and how the youth react to it, Unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

This thesis studied pre-campaign political television advertisements of 2010 presidential and vice-presidential candidates. The researchers focused on how these advertisements are conceptualized and how it affects the youth.

The researchers conducted four Focus Group Discussions among registered youths aged 18 – 25 and asked them about their perception of the image, airing, and the television commercials of Manny Villar, Benigno Aquino III, Gilbert Toedoro, Richard Gordon, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Mar Roxas, Loren Legarda and Jejomar Binay. The researchers found that political advertisements are effective in providing recall for the candidates among their audiences through frequent airing. But FGDs showed that frequency of airing does not necessarily translate to votes. Informants agreed that they had seen Manny Villar’s TV ad the most but majority of them favored Gilbert Teodoro for president. The researchers also interviewed experts from the fields of advertising, academe, and politics for their analysis and views regarding the airing of these advertisements. The researchers found that it is quite impossible for candidates to address specific issues and problems of the country because of the time constraints in airing the advertisements. The researchers concluded that political advertisements do produce recall for the audience. But good and credible content has a better probability of influencing voting decision than frequency of airing.