Designing a political ad

Political advertisement is a term we use to designate any content that aims to influence people’s behavior or opinion regarding some political question. Political advertisement is used by different actors in various societies and political systems to generate support for a government, party, cause, movement, etc. — or, indeed, to create opposition. Political advertisement can also be used synonymously with the term propaganda.

There are many different mediums through which political ads can be displayed. Have your students help you list the most common types of political ads - something like this:

• Posters
• Billboards
• Television intermission advertisements
• Radio intermission advertisements
• Social media ads
• Front yard signs
• Bumper stickers

You can also categorize political ads depending on what type of content they transmit:

• Identity advertisement mainly tries to inform people that a certain politician (or a party) exists and convey basic information. Their main objective is usually to raise visibility.
• Issues advertisement: these focus on a particular issue and try to convince people that a) the issue is very important and b) that a certain position on that issue is better than other positions
• Comparison advertisement: these compare politicians, parties, and movements and try to highlight comparisons on which one is better than the other
• Negative advertisement: these ads criticize and attack other politicians, trying to reduce their popularity.

Note: these categorizations are approximate and should not be used as definitive; many ads might be a blend of multiple types of content.

Political advertisement has historically been an issue because of its power to shape public opinion. In some ways, this power has only grown through the rise of modern social media because before, at least, different ads had to share the same advertising space (more or less), giving people at least some chance to see varied content. Today, however, the feed algorithms on most social media create bubbles and echo chambers by targeting different ads to different people. In other words, in today’s advertising environment, we mostly see what we want to see.

This exercise should not take over 30 minutes in total. Students should be split into groups (3-5 members) and instructed to create a political ad for an upcoming election (be it local, national, presidential, or elections for the European Parliament - choose an option that best fits your classroom). The additional piece of information that they should receive is that there has been a significant event that has recently happened and that their ads should reflect that. The significant event itself is up to you.

Here’s an example of a significant local event:

A local group of environmental activists has been protesting the government's environmental policy by throwing eggs at the Parliament and other important buildings.

Groups should be given different parties to represent. The medium for this ad depends on what you have and what students know to use. You have several options, including but not limited to:

• Short political speech (pretend you are filming a 30-second ad that has a candidate speaking);
• Poster
• Political slogan
• TV ad

Students should be invited to use one of the four basic kinds of ads listed above as inspiration, but they can also mix them. While the groups work on choosing their advertising strategy and developing the ads, walk around the classroom and offer help where needed.

After the groups are done with their ads, at least one member per group should present the ad to the rest of the class. If possible, limit the presentation to up to 2 minutes per group.

1. Do you think political ads are necessary?
2. Do you think political ads are manipulative?
3. If yes, can anything be done to reduce the risk of manipulation?
4. Have you seen political ads before? Can you recognize any of the manipulation tactics described today in them?