Selling Australian politicians: political advertising 1949-2001

Deposited with permission of the author. © 2003 Dr. Sally YoungThis thesis reports the results of the most comprehensive study of political advertising in Australia. Over 1300 newspaper and television advertisements were analysed from the important post-war election of 1949 to the most recent federal election in 2001, using three complementary research methods-content analysis, discourse analysis and ad-mapping. The thesis engages with theoretical debates about the significance of elections, the 'effect' of political advertisements and the nature of civic discourse and political participation. It also examines claims of 'Americanisation', the impact of professionalisation, party convergence theory and theories of the mass media, including agenda setting, priming, framing and the impact of television. The results reveal that political advertising is central to the conduct of modern election campaigns. In some respects, political advertising has changed markedly over the past fifty years. There has been a declining emphasis on party in conjunction with a heightened focus on image, negativity and personalisation-in particular, negative personalisation and a focus on the opponent party leader. Some of these changes are of concern as they may have a detrimental impact on the political system and the way Australians elect their politicians. However, there are also some long-standing features of political advertising which have remained the same including narrow targeting, use of ads to set the public agenda, a homogenous conception of the audience, use of hard-hitting, negative discourse, appeals to voters' emotions and selfinterest, and a reliance on stereotypes to portray particular groups. These features demonstrate the many of the problems which have been identified as 'modern ills' are, in fact, deeply rooted in the past. Rather than spearheading any collapse of democracy, political advertisements are reflecting changes in the relationships between politicians, the media and the public