by Yvonne Kiunisala
The deluge of political ads started to flood our airwaves almost a full year before the official start of the campaign period in February 2016. According to a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), a whopping Php6.7 billion was spent on pre-campaign ads from March 2015 to January 2016. This amount, based on published rate cards, makes these national elections the most expensive elections in our political history and, now that the campaign period is in full swing, we can expect all parties to unleash even more money to significantly scale up the presence of their respective candidates on TV.
With all the money being thrown into TV ads one has to wonder if all this TV advertising actually works. Will it have a real effect on voters come Election Day? Although it is difficult to measure the effect of these ads with any kind of precision due to the numerous variables at play, there are enough compelling reasons for the political operatives behind the campaigns to justify the massive spending.
TV still has the broadest reach
Despite the growing reach and influence of social media, TV still has the broadest reach of any medium. No other medium comes close. In the May 2013 elections, 85% of voters claimed to get their information on candidates from TV ads. Posters and other campaign paraphernalia were a far second with only 31% of voters claiming it as a source of information. TV therefore is still the most efficient way to reach they eyes and ears of the 54.4 million registered voters.
In a tight race, candidates cannot afford to have their message drowned out by their opponents
As the most recent poll results show, the presidential race is proving to be an extremely tight one. Only single digit percentage points separate the four leading candidates from one other. In a race this tight, none of the parties would be willing to cede their part of the TV battleground to their opponents.
The fear of losing even a fraction of the vote by being outspent on TV will continue to drive the relentless spending of the various parties. As long as one candidate continues to air ads on TV, we can expect the others to follow suit or run the risk of their voices being drowned out. So long as there is still a sliver of undecided voters out there, or voters they believe they can still swing to their side, the political TV ads, like a song we are sick of hearing, will go on.
TV ads help to shape the narrative
Whether or not a TV ad can have a direct effect on someone’s actual vote, what it can definitely do is help shape and strengthen the narrative of a campaign. The political ads can plant an idea or message in the minds of voters and reinforce that message or idea with consistent repetition.
BINAY’S TV CAMPAIGN – Ginhawa sa buhay ng bawa’t Pilipino.
TV Ad Spend as of Jan 2016 – Php 1.05 billion
Binay’s first volley of TV ads was of the cookie cutter variety. Filled with images of shiny happy people claiming to have benefited from the programs he launched, the ads were positive in tone and focused on the benefits of poverty alleviation. This has been the consistent message of Binay’s campaign dating back to when he was running for vice president. The ads claim that the promises his opponents are making are things that he has already made reality in Makati and can therefore do for the whole nation.
This consistent messaging and the voter’s belief in his message narrowly propelled him to the position of vice president in 2010. Since then Binay has been plagued by one corruption scandal after another and while he was once the clear frontrunner in early surveys, the allegations of corruption have tainted his candidacy and he now finds himself behind Poe and Duterte.
In response to the controversy swirling around Binay and his family, the more recent TV ads released by his camp have remained consistent with his message of poverty alleviation, but now also paint him as a frequently insulted underdog and a victim of political bullying.
One of these ads is a 60 seconder that has Binay on camera asserting that he is a victim of political harassment and that the accusations against him are based on speculation driven by malice and a desire to defile his decades of public service. He goes on to say that his explanations as well as the copious amounts of evidence submitted in his defense have been ignored. He closes the ad by saying the hardship he is enduring does not compare to the every day trials of the Filipino people and that the experience strengthened his resolve to ensure real change.
In and of itself the ad could have been a powerful one as it addressed the whirlwind of corruption charges being leveled against him. Unfortunately for the Binay campaign, ads are not viewed in a vacuum and this specific Binay TVC was presented in a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee where Senator Trillanes proceeded to take the veracity of Binay’s claims apart. In the ad, Binay claims to have given many explanations and submitted numerous documents to the Senate Committee in his defense. However according to Trillanes, all the documents shown in the TVC were not documents in Binay’s defense but were in fact documents the Senate Committee had collected against Binay. The Director of the Blue Ribbon Committee then clarified that the only thing submitted by Binay was an affidavit by virtue of a subpoena. In short, Binay did not voluntarily submit any evidence or explanations that could potentially clear him; he had to be compelled by a subpoena to submit a response. Furthermore, his response was not the mountain of evidence he wants people to believe he submitted but a short document that contained nothing but general denials.
This ad was then followed up by the “nognog” and “pandak” ads. Again, when taken in isolation, the ads are quite clever. “Nognog” and “pandak” are terms frequently used to describe Binay in a derogatory manner. The TVCs took those words and flipped them to make what are meant to be insulting descriptions almost a point of pride. According to the TVC, “nognog” and “pandak” stand for every Filipino going through tough times and as a “nognog” and “pandak” himself, Binay knows what the common Pinoy is going through.
The “nognog” and “pandak” ads may have helped move the needle for Binay when they first came out but those benefits rapidly decayed in the face of the continued onslaught of corruption allegations. Perhaps, instead of reacting to “nognog” and “pandak,” Team Binay should focus on giving a factual and compelling response to two other words his detractors repeatedly use to describe him: “corrupt” and “liar”. No matter how consistent or clever the Binay ads are, only those who have already decided to vote for him will believe them. Without a credible response to the overpriced Makati buildings, Binay Hacienda in Batangas, irregularities in his SALN and a host of other charges of corruption, Binay’s TV ads will most likely fail to convert any more voters his way.
DUTERTE’S TV CAMPAIGN – Tapang at Malasakit.
TV Ad Spend as of Jan 2016 – Php146 million
After much speculation over whether he would run or not, Duterte became the last candidate to throw his hat into the race when he finally confirmed in November 2015 that he would be running for president.
Much like the man himself, the TV ads of Duterte are lacking in finesse and production value but are clear, concise and effective at delivering the message that he takes an uncompromising stance on crime. The ads played up his “Dirty Harry” image by showing wrongdoers being put behind bars, crimes and criminals being struck out like bowling pins, and Duterte giving a stern but humorous warning to criminals to stop their criminal behavior lest they want his greeting to be the last Christmas greeting they get.
To the many who have had enough of the status quo, here finally was a man who behaves like a strong leader, tells it like it is, and seemingly delivers on his promises. However, as Duterte became more and more visible in the national arena, his no holds barred, invective-filled straight talking began to be polarizing, especially since it fed into the perception that he encourages vigilante style killings.
In his subsequent TV ads, there is a definite softening of his “Punisher” image. The focus is still on anti-crime but delivers this message by highlighting that Davao has been declared the “9th safest city in the world” and featuring the many benefits the residents of Davao enjoy as a result of his tenure as mayor.
As of January 2016, Duterte’s spend on TV ads has been significantly less than his three strongest opponents. Rounding off the figures, Binay, Poe, and Roxas each spent about Php1 billion pesos from March 2015 to June 2016. In that same time period, Duterte spent a little more than 10% of that and yet still finds him in the thick of the fight. It will be interesting to see if Team Duterte will ramp up their TV spend and if it will help him break away into the lead position as election day nears.
POE’S TV CAMPAIGN – Gobyernong may puso.
TV Ad Spend as of Jan 2016 – Php1.02 billion
Grace Poe’s first TV ad was released in August 2015 under the guise of commemorating her father’s birthday. The ad was purportedly meant to merely remember and celebrate FPJ but naturally it did not hurt to ensure that Grace Poe also appeared in the ad and that she subtly tackled the frequent criticism against her when she says the line “Walang halaga ang talino at karanasan kung wala kang puso at katapatan.”
Aside from having to devote a TVC just to convince voters that she was not disqualified and therefore still a candidate for the presidency, Poe’s TV ads have followed the familiar template of political ads – starting with images of people laboring and suffering under the status quo and then shifting to the images of energetic, happy people that she promises her leadership will result in. Apart from generating awareness for her campaign, because these ads seem like the “won’t really help but also wont hurt” type, it is doubtful if these ads will play a significant part in helping her generate votes that she doesn’t already have.
ROXAS’ TV CAMPAIGN – Ituloy and daang matuwid
TV Ad Spend as of Jan 2016 – Php969 million
As the standard bearer of the ruling party, Roxas enjoys the considerable political machinery of his party as well as probably the fattest war chest of all the candidates. On the flipside, it has also put him in the polarizing position of having not just to defend but also to champion the continuation of Daang Matuwid. This would all be very well and good if the majority of voters are happy with Daang Matuwid but considering that Roxas has been languishing in fourth place for a while now, admittedly not very far behind, but fourth place all the same, it is not a stretch to say that Daang Matuwid is not working to his advantage.
“Walang Drama”, the most effective of his ads to date, does what no other candidate in this race has done in their TV ads so far, attack the opponents. He does not mention anyone outright but it is not difficult to guess who he is referring to. In the ad he says “wala akong madramang kwento” referring to Poe, “hindi ako siga-siga” referring to Duterte and “hindi ako paawa” and “at hindi ako magnanakaw” referring to Binay. The ads are his most powerful so far.
Unfortunately for Roxas his campaign has suffered the most missteps among the presidential candidates so that any gains he seems to make because of TV are lost because some other element in his campaign. Binay, Duterte and Poe have been fairly consistent and have for the most part been adept at tweaking their narratives in reaction to their respective circumstances. Team Roxas on the other hand seems to have misread public sentiment on a number of occasions. The celebrity filled “Fast Forward” video was derided on social media as being shallow and delusional, the reactions on YouTube must have been so relentlessly critical that the comments section was disabled. At the moment, for every one viewer that has liked the video, 4 have disliked it.
The latest misstep is the “Sa Gitna ng Unos” comic book that portrays him as a hero during the time of Typhoon Yolanda. In fairness to the team of Roxas, they claim that his supporters made the comic books and that their camp had nothing to do with them. Although they do deny having made the comic books, when asked about its contents, the Roxas camp stands by how his actions during Typhoon Yolanda were depicted in the comic book.
Barring any new scandal or gigantic blunder from one of his opponents it is difficult to see how Roxas can swing more voters his way without making some kind of sea change to his campaign.
So, going back to the question posed at the beginning of this article, do TV ads really work? Without trying to be flippant, the answer is yes and no depending on what the circumstances and objectives are.
One can argue that Binay’s “nognog” and “pandak” ads are the best of the presidential candidate ads out there, but like any other product being peddled by a TVC, if the product is seen to be inherently flawed not even a work of genius can save it. Poe’s current ads feel too middle-of-the-road to generate any new converts to her side. Her improving position in surveys is more likely due to her performance in debates than to her TVCs. Duterte has done well to try to soften his image through his latest TVCs but this requires a balancing act because it is his toughness that attracted his followers in the first place. While Roxas, in his fourth place position, has the most to win if he decides to take more risks in his TV campaign. One has to wonder how well he would have done if his campaign had chosen not to parrot the “Daang Matuwid” line.
In the end TV is still essential to a national political campaign. In the future we may see social media starting to wield as much or even more power than TV but for the meantime, in this national election, TV is still king and it will be interesting to see how the different campaigns utilize the medium in the remaining weeks before election day.
