| Abstract [eng] |
The present paper covers political advertising. The work is focused on the fact that the increasing amount of political advertising, the expenditure on which is constantly growing, too, is having a negative effect on the participation of voters in elections. The main goal of the present paper is to determine the tendencies of political advertising and reveal the legal norms that apply to this type of advertising. To achieve the goal of the work, the following tasks of the theoretical part were determined: to analyse the tendencies of candidates regarding the use of political advertising that helps create image vs. political advertising which is aimed at dealing with issues important to society; to examine the tendencies of the increasing use of the negative political advertising; to analyse the legal norms applied to the content of political advertising; and finally, to compare the regulations on broadcasting of political advertising in different countries. In the theoretical part of the work, the analysis of academic sources served as the main source of information trying to determine the tendencies of political advertising. The analysis of legal norms has served as the source of data to determine regulations on political advertising. The empiric part of the research was aimed at analysing whether the determined tendencies are characteristic of political advertising in Lithuania. The hypothesis of the study was the following: due to the increasing competition, political parties tend to make use of image advertising. The political advertising of two Lithuanian dailies was analysed using qualitative and quantitative content analyse. The analysis of academic sources revealed that the following tendencies prevail in the political advertising across the world: during election campaigns, candidates tend to use image advertising rather than issue advertising; the volume of negative advertising is growing; and, expenses on the political advertising are growing. The conclusions of the analysis of the regulations on the political advertising in selected countries suggest that the states do not legally regulate the "truth" in political advertising because this might be seen as restrictions on the human right to the freedom of expression. In the countries, which have not refused the paid political advertising, it is becoming an instrument of competition, however in this case the principle of equality is not violated. The research revealed that the number of political parties in the parliamentary elections of Lithuania going down, the competition among these parties is growing; therefore the volume of political advertising is increasing, too. Besides, the study demonstrated that the tendency of political advertising oriented towards creation of image rather than solution of issues has prevailed in Lithuania as well as in the entire world. However, in contrast to advertising in the foreign press, the positive advertising dominated in Lithuanian dailies. |
