In 2004 the AEC conducted a comprehensive, large-scale public information campaign devoted to the issues of elections in Australia. This campaign aimed to facilitate the voters’ understanding of the process of elections and all the relevant problems connected with them. AEC also sought to emphasize its role in the electoral process and attempted to eliminate a set of difficulties and ambiguities that the voters likely faced during the elections.
The scale of the company and the multifaceted approach with consideration of all specific needs of groups of particular interest, the various means of communicating the information to the common public ensured the indisputable success of the company. The primary key to success was the multiple communication flows tailored in a diverse way to get to every house and citizen. Advertising and public relations actions were aimed at the general groups of the population.
In contrast, internet services and telephone services were aimed at other groups such as young citizens and older adults. The campaign’s success was also dictated by the fact that the services were not only available for people who wanted to undertake some active participation in the electoral process. They were also designed to engage people in actions, such as elector leaflets, promotional products, and other means that will be discussed in more detail further.
The informational flow positively affected the company because of the wise and thought-over arrangement. The first communication channel, a non-reciprocal one, was advertising arranged on TV, Radio, and the Internet. It can be called an information flow channel because it was aimed to reach three goals in three stages: “encouraging enrolment, explanation of voting services, explanation of how to vote formally” (Public Information Campaign). From this fact, one may see that the campaign aimed to advertise some commercial firms for their benefit and profit from the campaign and to help ordinary people obtain access to the information they need to participate in elections and express their will reasonably autonomously.
In general political advertising is a popular means of communication with the electorate, as it has been noted by Linda Lee Kaid (157):
“While it requires the dissemination of the message through some type of mass channel, distinguishing political advertising from interpersonal communication and general public communication such as political speeches or rallies, it allows for a broad interpretation that encompasses all types of political advertising channels, including posters and displays advertising, pamphlets and brochures, direct mail, newspaper and magazine advertising, broadcast and cable advertising, and Internet or other electronic distribution systems.”
The second powerful information flow channel was public relations – the tool of communicating relevant electoral information in addition to advertising. These activities included media releases (national and local releases pertaining to both generalized and specific electoral information that were disseminated in some regional areas and were aimed at communicating information to specific local groups), media interviews (these activities were aimed at achieving better understanding by the population of the candidates’ aims and objectives, their aspirations and plans for political action in the country in case of victory etc.; they assisted enormously in communicating the central part of information essential in forming the public opinion about candidates, their clear understanding of political agendas and finding the most appropriate candidate suiting their personal needs and vision of the country), information briefings (which were held for the candidates and the representatives of mass media to ensure the prompt and efficient information flow both to the communication channels from the participants of elections and to ensure effective communication directly between journalists and candidates for informative data exchange and updating with the purpose of keeping the voters informed); photo opportunities (the photos of naval submarines etc.).
In general, there were other PR activities as well – despite being of various types, they were targeted at enhancing human understanding of the electoral process and at activating the population’s interest in taking an active part in elections:
“Before the federal election, the AEC conducted an integrated public awareness campaign to support the major mail-out of AEC electoral roll review letters in May and June 2004. This involved the placement of advertisements about the electoral roll review in major metropolitan and selected regional newspapers, including the selected ethnic press. A public relations campaign at the national, State, Territory, and divisional levels supported this initiative and disseminated the key messages to the media. The AEC website was integral to the campaign as a source of general information and provided users with access to enrolment forms to enroll or update their details” (Public Information Campaign).
Publications were another essential tool for communicating the information flow to the common public. They included issuing pamphlets, handbooks, division profiles, electoral backgrounders, wall maps, lists of candidates, election night guides, fact sheet series, and information leaflets. All these kinds of publications contained a certain amount of specific information and aimed to reach different groups of the public in other places and different ways.
One more communication channel that has to be mentioned in the call center service was primarily established for reciprocal communication with electors and receiving and providing timely, accurate, and diverse information about the electoral campaign process.
This was a relatively efficient communication channel in several aspects: first of all, it gave an excellent opportunity for voters to take an active part in the campaign, to voice their opinion, and ask questions on the issues they were not knowledgeable enough about; on the other hand, it assisted the candidates as well as governmental bodies of power to receive timely information on the statistical figures of the popularity of candidates, the potential for the victory all of them had and the opinion about them the population has. It was also an excellent communication channel for assessing the success of public relations activities. With the growing intensity of advertising and promotion of candidates, the general opinion changed and altered. In contrast, the call center helped sociologists and independent observers assess the changes and analyze them.
The political challenges were assessed in an efficient, well-arranged way. The political competition and resistance would not use unethical, violent means of spoiling some candidate’s reputation, blackmailing, or open pressure. One major political challenge – ethnic and cultural diversity of the nation requiring particular attitudes and treatment of specific groups, was also met constructively. The call center was equipped with the translation services available online. During the election campaign, 15 language lines were successfully functioning to satisfy the needs of the diverse community willing to voice their opinion and take part in the elections. Besides, the advertising channels were organized to suit international needs:
“National advertising was translated into 17 languages in the ethnic press, 26 languages on ethnic Radio, and five languages for ethnic television. In addition, radio advertisements were translated into 24 indigenous languages, and advertisements were broadcast on Radio for the Print Handicapped”.
Speaking about communication strategies applied in the current electoral public information campaign, it is again necessary to note the following: advertising, public relations, publications, promotional products, call centers, and work through the Internet.
Concluding the current public information campaign analysis, it is necessary to consider the ethical issues being covered within its scope. One can indeed say that the campaign fully corresponded to the principles of ethics and morality as it included all possible kinds of communication channels to ensure accurate, timely, and complete information was passed to the electorate and back to the candidates. Besides, unique means to enhance participation of particular groups of populations were taken appropriate care of, thus making overall participation and involvement possible, easy to achieve, and much more credible.
There were unique means designed for disabled people, and ethnic minorities received proper treatment through the correct arrangement of translation services during the electorate’s calls to the call centers and the placement of press releases in many languages to ensure the overall dissemination of information. One more ethical issue may be observed in the fact that the aims of political advertising were not concentrating only on passing the information about candidates and calling the voters to participate in the campaign. Among the issues addressed were the possible problems that would arise in the elections process and the way to inform the population about them to diminish their impact on the whole election process.
Thus, judging from the points discussed in the present work, it becomes possible to say that the campaign went through absolutely successfully, meeting all political challenges stipulated at its beginning and addressing all groups of the population with the help of various public information strategies and public relations techniques. The needs of all specific groups were met, ethical standards and principles were thoroughly observed, thus contributing to the overall success of the venue.
Works Cited
Kaid, Lynda Lee. Handbook of political communication research. Routledge, 541 pp.
Public Information Campaign, 2009. Web.