Before Election Day, democracy becomes a spectator sport of sorts. With electioneering at a fever pitch, the advertising industry, too, runs on overdrive.

On television screens — and increasingly on cell phone screens as well — an interesting hodgepodge of messages is visible: the juxtaposition of leaders campaigning passionately, but with some degree of civility, in advertisements, and often belying that in their broadcasted real-time rallies.

Somewhere, a shopkeeper whose store is closed due to loadshedding, challenges the PML-N’s claim of ending electricity outages during their stint in power. On the newspaper he is reading are animated images of PML-N Chairman Shahbaz Sharif loudly repeating his government’s now-unfulfilled promises.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) campaign is direct, aiming to push their point across. Though this is balanced by their solemn ads on television and in newspapers where Imran Khan pledges to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’ and shifts the focus to his achievements running the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PML-N offers similar ads where they remind the nation of their accomplishments, with one ad taking veiled barbs at the PTI’s persistent accusations of corruption in which a client tells his barber to change his nation by “changing the channel”.

The average air time a major political party takes up is 1.5 hours per day. For one week alone, the cost comes to Rs98 million

The PPP, on the other hand, has relatively benign messages that subtly reinforce the Bhutto connection. In their ad, a composed Bilawal sits in an aesthetically -pleasing bedroom, with pictures of him as a baby in his mother’s arms, as he narrates the PPP’s select few achievements and highlights manifesto points the party will follow if elected.

In the world of television, a one-minute advertisement during a prime time slot of major news channels costs around Rs40,000 to Rs220,000. If one considers agency discounts of 30 per cent, Geo News’ (the most watched news channel as

per Gallup Pakistan) slot is worth anywhere between Rs28,000 to Rs154,000 per minute.

The average air time a major political party takes up is 1.5 hours per day. Calculating at Rs40,000 per minute, for one week alone, the cost comes to Rs25 million. And this is considering just one news channel for just one week. Experts say that the real cost runs in billions, but no political party is willing to provide a breakdown of their advertising expenditure.

According to one PTI member who deals with media affairs, the party has is no print campaign this time. A consultant from a leading advertising agency informs Dawn that political parties spend up to 10 to 15pc of their budget on advertising.

“Of this 70-80pc is allotted for Above-the-Line (ATL) advertising which includes mass media. For ATL, 50pc goes to TV, while 30pc goes to print media,” he adds.

For Below-the-Line (BTL) activities which comprise distributing banners or panaflexes, door-to-door campaigns and corner meetings, “30pc is reserved.” With an internet penetration that has grown from two per cent around the time of the previous elections to around 22pc now, social media offers a largely unregulated arena for a party to promote its agenda.

There is no control over posts on Facebook or Twitter, the main platforms for advertising. It is thus difficult to challenge the narrative being built on social media. However, the quality of production one would expect from the involvement of wealthy politicians is still lacking. For advertising and creative agencies, politics is a largely unexplored realm, one where they need to tread carefully as they themselves lack political immunity.

“Here the problem is that it is not considered public service advertising or public service product. Agencies don’t treat it as a brand but as a favour. It’s a relationship of mutual benefit. The company acts as a PR team for the party and when the party comes into power, it brings them mileage,” informs Moin Qureshi, consultant and CEO at CHQ Communications.

Advertisements for any other product, if executed properly by selecting a destination, setting aside a couple of days for shooting and using top-of-the-line products, cost up to Rs6m on an average in Pakistan, Mr Qureshi adds.

If a party employs a freelancer, the expenditure is a nominal Rs20,000 to Rs25,000. When such deals are struck, the quality of production inevitably falls drastically. The result is often poorly-thought out and executed ads, which run ad nauseam all over digital media, often irritating voters.

“The best estimate for the persuasive effects of campaign contact and advertising—such as mail, phone calls, and canvassing—on Americans’ candidate choices in general elections is zero,” alleged scholars of the University of California and Stanford University, in 2016.

Until further studies are conducted in Pakistan, it remains to be seen whether political advertisements and the billions spent on them have any substantial impact, apart from offering a unique form of entertainment to the populace.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 23rd, 2018