Pictorial Impact of Television Political Advertising on Voters in a Multi-Cultural Environment

Abstract

This work examines the opinion of politically conscious viewers on the pictorial power of television political campaigns of the 2011 elections. The reason was to find out if television pictures can communicate and add information to political messages, causing viewers to react according to the source’s intention. The survey research method was adopted. The main instrument applied in the study was the questionnaire administered on 250 politically conscious viewers who also voted in Uyo metropolis. Some research questions were formulated and problem statement made to realize the objectives of this work. It was realized that television political campaign pictures of the 2011 elections did not have any significant impact on politically conscious viewers. Moreover, viewers were not deterred from one party to another because of campaign pictures. They adopted the “continuance” action. It was also discovered that pictures add dimensions to political campaign messages, apart from being communicative. It was therefore recommended that television campaign pictures should appear real to either deter or reinforce viewer’s beliefs.