IPA Backs Political Advertising

The IPA has come out in support of political advertising on TV and radio in an attempt to increase public awareness of the electoral process.

In its submission to the Electoral Commission, the IPA recommends that party political broadcasts (PPBs) on BBC stations should be supported with paid-for advertising on commercial stations. The advertising body estimates that during the last General Election each of the three major political parities would have spent £2m on heavyweight 30-second TV ad campaigns, pushing up the cost of TV advertising by around 3%.

President of the IPA, Bruce Haines, said: “The IPA has felt for some time that the format of traditional PPBs should change. They are 1950s inventions from a time when people were in awe of television and fail to understand television as it is today. However we also recognise that if a 30-second ad is capable of delivering a single message with outstanding clarity, there is a role for expanding arguments in a longer format.”

He added: “By mixing PPBs on the BBC with paid-for ads in the commercial sector, we should be able to achieve both goals within formats that are more in sympathy with the programming in which they are found. In this way, PPBs and ads can be constructed to work together to help create a better informed – and hopefully motivated electorate.”

According to Propeller’s recent Ads That Make News survey, billboard ads for the Labour Party and the Conservative Party were among the top ten most written about poster ads in the UK national press during 2001 (see M&S Tops Ads That Makes News Survey).

IPA: 020 7235 7020 www.ipa.co.uk

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