Chaps, need some information

[RogueTrooper]

There is a guy, and Australian by the name of Lynton Crosby, over in the UK working for the Conservative Party. On the whole he seems to be a deeply upleasant person as thus far he has bashed Immigrants, Gypsies and Abortion.

Now, my question is not about Lynton, or his mendacious methods, but this...

Can political parties run television adverts in Oz?

Some of the Conservative Party's rehtoric sounds like it would normally be just a part of a much broader media campaign ( that includes TV ).

[Rainbowreflect]

1. When I first read you subject line I was going to say...

that they look cool, but your ass can get cold.
When I read the rest I realized I could not help. Sorry!

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Quick answer...

Yes....

[Djinn]

3. yep

the only limit is in the "blackout" period which covers from midnight of the Wednesday before polling day (always on a sat here)

worse than that is that our pollies have the absolute best of both worlds. they have access to public funding but there are NO caps on spending and NO guidelines as to what is and isn't political advertising (both parties tend to use incumbency to run copious "government" ads that are nothing more than party political broadcasts.

Also in Oz unlike the the UK and many other western democracies there is no compulsion for TV stations to air the ads at a cheap rate or to provide free spots (the abc does as part of it's charter but they're rarely used as no-one wants to make 5 minute broadcasts anymore it's all about 15 second soundbites)

so we have a situation where the public is inundated with ads that contain ZERO policy information cost an absolute fortune and contain pretty much any amount of bullshit you like.

Lynton Crosby is a master of dog whistle politics and is worthy of any amount of disdain any sees fit to send his way - one of his big "wins" was the demonisation of a bunch of refugees on the Tampa - interesting to see the Tories have gone for a bash reffo's theme as well!

you might find this interesting

http://www.safecom.org.au/2005/04/lynton-crosby-globetrotting-spreading.htm

if you're really interested a recent Australian book looks into political advertising over the last 50 or so years and while quite repetitive is pretty interesting..

The Persuaders: Inside the Hidden Machine of Political Advertising
by Sally Young

[RogueTrooper]

4. Thanks very much for that

[canberra]

5. Does that mean you can't run TV ads in Britain?

I never realised that.

Seems pretty ridiculous if you ask me. If you can have billboards, send letters, knock on doors and have ads in newspapers, why not on TV?

[SweetLeftFoot]

6. The election ads in Britain

are so funny. The Scottish Green's one is priceless

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Canberra?

Wow, does that choice of name mean I'm not the only Canberran at DU?

Violet...

[canberra]

8. wow ok guess I'm not the only one after all

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Welcome to DU!

It's so cool to have another local here at long last!

Violet...

[caty]

10. Welcome to DU.

:hi: