The Positive Side of Negative Advertising
By Milla Goldenberg
Ken Goldstein
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Negative political ads may often be taken out of context by the public, but they tend to be more factually accurate than tamer, more generically targeted advertising, said Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an associate professor in the school’s political science department.
Goldstein told a group of Knight Center fellows that his experience in tracking the content, volume and targeting of political ads led him to believe that few politicians tell bold-face lies, and that Americans learn a substantial amount about candidates from their television ads. Evidence seems to indicate that what these ads affect on voter turnout, behavior and knowledge.
Roughly 65 percent of a campaign’s budget is spent on political advertising - by far the most expensive part of any campaign, said Goldstein, adding the largest share of that advertising expense goes to pay the costs of highly targeted campaign commercials in local markets.
For journalists and academics interested in tracking political advertising, Goldstein noted the following common approaches:
- Press releases
- Information obtained directly from the campaigns
- Archival data focusing on advertising specific to racial demographics
- Ad buy information from stations that include buy sheets and audits
Asked why this information would be interesting to journalists, Goldstein said that the data would “show you where to shine your microscope.”
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