The Persuaders by Sally Young

November 5th, 2007 • Australia, Books, Media

Halfway through the dreaded assessment period at uni I stopped in at our local library and was very impressed by the range of political and economic books on offer. I picked up a few and have begun reading The Persuaders by Sally Young, a book from 2004 about the “hidden machine of political advertising (reviewed by The Age here). Sally was involved as a “media analyst” in some ALP campaigns and I think she is an academic at Melbourne University.

According to the blurb, The Persuaders is an “insiders” look at the tricks and schemes of political advertising. It demonstrates how Australian democracy is being undermined by the media machine.

So far (up to page 36) it’s being an interesting romp through the history of Australian political advertising. Beginning with Whitlam, the birth of television ad campaigns and a more emotive, less rational approach to campaigning, going briefly back to the birth of Australian politics in the 1800s and now beginning to analyse the “medium as the message”.

What I’ve found most interesting so far is the shift in campaigning from rational explanation of policies designed to get the voter to think about the options available to vapid, emotive advertising aimed at swining voters watching Today Tonight who are less likely to deeply analyse policy. Interesting stat #1, in 1949 The Age had 25 different ads during the four-week campaign, by 1998 it was down to 7. Nowadays it’s all about image, soundbites and media blitz to satuarate the voter.

I’m really interested in what Young sees as the solutions.

Also, one interesting historical story from the book. Back 1843 politics was often fueled with alcohol and was a much more “lively affair”, also candiates used banners to rally their supporters around their colours, the following excerpt I found quite interesting:

Australia’s first election was marred by a riot which resulted in the death of a man named Daniel Fennie. The riot that killed him started when election candidate’s banners were torn down. Hundreds of men – some armed with sticks and palings torn from fences – roamed the streets. Property was damaged, people were beaten and bloodied, and Daniel Fennie was killed. By 1856 in Melbourne, wearing ribbons, playing music and flying banners was made illegal. The South Australian Register found the new style of advertising-free elections to be much preferable to the ‘old regime’ with:

inflammatory speeches from the hustings…zealous partisans…crowds of people preceded by flaunting bannrs and heralded by brazen instruments, perambulating the streets; of party ribbons, streaming from hats and buttonholes; of broken heads, bloody noses and torn garments; the result of the liberal administration of beer and brandy…

And some candidates still found sneaky ways to get around the banner ban!

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Tags: book, election, history, politics, sally young, the persuaders

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