25/11/2021
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗦 - 𝗔 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗣𝗣'𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀
- 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘢 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶 𝘈𝘨𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘶
𝗔 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
For a post electoral analysis, with focus on the NPP, that a colleague researcher, Nana Akua Asare, and I at PC Archives Ghana looked at for the 2020 elections and for a discussion at our launch at IDEG Ghana last week, we noticed an unusual larger inclusion of minors in broadcast and print adverts that were rolled out by the party. For the purposes of numerical value, it must be established that we counted close to 25 of such adverts.
Now, it must be understood that the inclusion of minors in election campaigns, either in an advert, at a rally or a media interview is not a new strategy in political campaign communication. In a world where the well-being and security of children is the priority of international and civil society organizations, it is certain that most politicians will push for engagements at that level to score very good points with voter patronage.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱
A scholarly review we did interestingly revealed that much more than we see, the inclusion of minors in adverts is to specifically target the adult audience who have the purchasing power to persuasively get them to make purchasing decisions. In achieving this within the political marketing corridors, child actors are made to appear in visuals that provoke and evoke pitiful emotions in the viewer.
Child actors are made to appear as sad, rejected and hopeless individuals crying for support. Dominantly, female adolescents in less privileged communities or situations are also used. Child actors are, almost always, not paired with the candidate. They are either paired with their parents or peers who are equally made to appear poor. All these were evident in the adverts rolled out by the NPP.
In affirming the source credibility of these minors and their messages on the NPP's Free SHS policy, the party's copywriters perfectly ensured that the characters were less privileged students in the senior high school. In cases where they were not, they had to act as such to fit into the message. Away from that, the party had one such advert that featured the Education Minister. Clearly, that was another strategy to affirm the credibility of the message.
𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱
Far beyond these, findings identified from the inclusion of minors in political adverts revealed some problems. One out of these had to do with bullying and in an internet governed world today, cyber-bullying. An observation revealed that this was high in cases where the party had lost or faced failures with the implementation of messages delivered by child actors.
Practically and presently identified as an example is the print advert of the young man who was featured in the 'Remember Me' advert for the NABCO policy implementation. The past weeks have seen series of lashing and bashing against this young man on several social media platforms. As psychological as the effects of cyber-bullying are, it is sure that the mental frame of this actor is surely not in the right state wherever he finds himself now. Other minors featured in other adverts could face same problems as governance progresses and policies retrogress.
𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
In examining the ethical dimensions of this problem, we identified that it was prudent for the Advertisers Association of Ghana to take measures in redefining the Article 8 of their code of conduct which generally talks about the inclusion of minors in adverts to outline specific face-saving considerations to be observed by political advert producers to help avoid risks like bullying, flaming and trolling which may arise months or years after production. Beyond that, articles 71 to 74 of the same code of conduct which looks at political adverts could be redefined to have such considerations placed in there.
Extensively, the onus lies on the media to self create a policy that advises and guards against the airing of vulnerable minors featured in political adverts as is done for music or songs that contain profane language. Actions like the blurring and editing of some facial and voice identification features could be looked at to save the situation.
Far above the profits advertisers make from political adverts and commercials, it is important to factor the future well-being of child actors when they become a matter of need for political advertising productions. The Advertisers Association of Ghana must unite energies with all political bodies and civil societies to look around a policy as such for the good of tomorrow.
Cc: Kobby Mensah Tanko Musah Noel Nutsugah
