Tuesday, 18 December 2018

What does a new personalised era of campaigning mean for democracy?

a post by Alex Krasodomski-Jones for the DEMOS blog

A decade ago, there was one phrase we heard time and again, whether in a focus group, online or on question time – “the politicians are out of touch”. There was an overriding sense that politics was irrelevant, it was elitist and it didn’t understand or reflect the concerns of ordinary citizens.

Electoral media was limited. You had one party political broadcast to set out your vision for the country or maybe an editorial or a debate. The lawyer saw the same broadcast as the care worker, the voter in London saw the same debate as the voter in Clacton or Crewe.

Online party political campaigning has changed this entirely. Suddenly, each and every one of us sees a message directed to us and personalised to our interests. It enables a party to cut to the chase – to ensure you have the information that you need to make a decision. Archives of political advertising from the last few years include messages about fishing policy, flood defences, bull fighting and protecting polar bears. These issues might well be important to some of us, but would never have made it into a 3 minute segment on the BBC. This new era talks to a politics that really works for you.

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