ABSTRACT
A dvertising has long been an established feature of competitive electoral politics.Throughout the history of its strategic employment, political advertising hasadapted to a range of media: print, radio and television (Scammell, 1999) and is now in the process of locating itself across various electronic media platforms from static websites to social media (Jackson and Lilleker, 2008). As with commercial advertising, the purpose of political advertising has increasingly become part of an attempt to build and maintain brand (party or candidate) awareness, gain attention and recall for messages and brand attributes (party or candidate values and personalities) and gain interest in the brand’s products (policy and personality) (Fill, 2002). While few scholars of corporate communication unquestionably accept linear or processual models that lead advertisement’s audiences from offering attention, gaining interest, desire and then acting upon that desire [AIDA]; perhaps in political communication such notions remain central to strategic thinking (Bartle and Griffiths, 2001). Election campaigns, when advertising is most frequently employed, build to a crescendo of activity culminating on the day when voting takes place; hence models such as AIDA are employed and expected to work by party strategists.
