Megan Gordin
mg525717@ohio.edu
Political advertising is a staple of every election in the United States. We see political ads on just about every media outlet we use, but perhaps one of the places we see political advertisements displayed most prominently is Facebook. Users often see these advertisements in the form of photos, videos, sponsored posts and polls.
Just days ago, on October 7, Facebook announced that it would ban all political advertisements on its social media platform indefinitely after the polls close on November 3, 2020, according to this Politico article. This decision was made in order to protect democracy and Facebook's reputation, according to Facebook insiders. While Facebook is trying to limit the spread of misinformation to make sure that voters are accurately informed, when is the line between protection and censorship in advertising crossed?
Before the post-election ban, Facebook also announced that it would ban all new political advertisements to come out the week before the election, according to this CBS News article. Facebook was transparent about the reasoning of the bans, stating that they want to "avoid confusion and abuse" about the election on its platform. Facebook's bans of political advertisements followed those of TikTok and Twitter, according to the same CBS article. But with so many people voting early and by mail this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, how effective is a ban just 7 days before the election? According to this Forbes article, approximately 9 million Americans have already cast their vote, almost a month before Election Day. This number could double or even triple before the Facebook political advertisement ban begins.
As strategic communication journalists who may potentially work on political campaigns, it is our responsibility to create political advertisements with truth, accuracy and fairness in mind, because according to the American Advertising Federation's Institute of Advertising Ethics, "Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public." The AAF Institute of Advertising Ethics also states that "Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised."
When creating political advertisements, strategic communication journalists have to remember that they are serving the public by creating advertising messages that present only the facts of a candidate's campaign, because they are potentially influencing the way people think about political candidates. While political advertisements are designed to sway people a certain way, it is important that people are presented with factual information in these advertisements in order to inform voters accurately about each candidate. Advertisers also need to consider their audiences and design messages with those audience members in mind.
What a great rundown! You are a such a good writer Megan. I very much like your line of thinking as to what strategic communication journalists do: serve the public. But unlike traditional journalists, strat comm journalists serve the public by presenting information in the way of ads. These ads, like you point out, are critical during elections. It is so interesting that Facebook banned political ads, and does beg the question: what is the role of censorship during the age of "fake news"? But I digress!
ReplyDelete