Perceptions of Negative Political Advertising: Meaningful or Menacing? An Empirical Study of the 1997 British General Election Campaign

The electorate are increasingly volatile in terms of their voting behaviour, and this presents valuable opportunities for the marketing discipline to offer the world of politics new insights and strategies.

Perceptions of Negative Political Advertising: Meaningful or Menacing?

An empirical study of the 1997 British General Election Campaign

Janine DermodyandRichard Scullion

Marketing-led Political Campaigning

The result of the 1997 General Election was dramatic. As a political phenomenon it produced the biggest swing from one party to another for over 50 years. From a marketing perspective it represented a massive upheaval in consumer behaviour patterns with many brand loyalists switching directly to their former brands main rival. The top line results for the main parties 1992 and 1997 election performances are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Voting...

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