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THE STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING ON VOTING BEHAVIOUR OF RESIDENTS OF RURAL COMMUNITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background To The Study

The use of political advertising as a campaign strategy by political parties in Nigeria has become a trend over the years. Political parties employ the services of creative agencies to package persuasive messages of propaganda to create awareness of the beautiful benefits electorates stand to enjoy should they cast their votes in favour of the party. McNair (2003 p.97), defines political advertising as the purchase and use of media space, paid for at commercial rates, in order to transmit political messages to a mass audience. Also, the Texas Ethics Commission defines political advertising as a form of communications that support or oppose a candidate for nomination through the use of pamphlets, billboards, fliers, bumper stickers, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet.

            The past two decades have witnessed a surge in the use of political advertising in Nigeria. According to Opeibi (2004) as cited by Olujide, Adeyemi and Gbadeyan(2011), prior to these periods, political parties employed the use of political rallies, personal contacts and speeches to sensitize electorates’. However the development and diversification of the mass media has caused political parties to capitalize on these media through political advertising in order to record a wider reach of their target audience. Political advertising has metamorphosed into a lucrative business for advertisers and celebrities alike who receive huge sums of naira to conceptualize, produce, and indorse these advertisements especially through the broadcast media.

            Statistics show that there is a low turnout in voting by Nigerian electorates. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2011), out of a population of 81, 691, 751 people who were of voting age in 2011, a total of 73, 528, 040 electorates registered to vote, but only 21,074, 621 actually voted. Despite the low voting by Nigerian electorates, politicians continue to expense large sums of money on political advertising messages that are mostly geared to bring to the public information about the opposition that are negative and antagonistic resulting from the fear of losing the election.

It is based on this premise that this study sought to investigate the influence of political advertisement messages on the voting decision of electorates in Lagos State using Agege Local Government Area which is one of the densely populated areas. The essence of this study is to awaken electorates on the need to exercise their civic duty at the 2015 elections.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 
The zeal to pilot the affairs of the state and by extension, ensure strict compliance to acceptable pattern of shared norms which Defleur etal (1971:448) describe as “consensus” which gave rise to modern government.  And while some individuals in the society assume leadership position by forcefully imposing it on themselves, as in the case of fast fading authoritarian states others attain the same goal through popular election.  The later alternative is common feature of democratic variant of governance allow the members of any society while latitude of freedom to choose their leaders.  Again it gives the citizens equal participation in the process of public decision making.
Irrespective of the varying philosophies and the attending economic ideologies that tends to differentiate various human societies every nation aspires to project, promote and protect her socio-politically and economic interests through the effective use of mass media (radio) organs.
As a result of this, Schramm and Roberts (1978: 635) argue “… each of the various forms of political power can be characterized in terms of information distribution which it allows, of how communication channels are controlled, of how and to whom information is made available”. Lasswell’s (1936) conception of politics as “a game of who gets what, when and how” still guides the political drives of most Nigerians.
The burden of this study therefore is to critically examine the influence of radio political advertising on the voting behaviour of the electorate of Iree Community.
1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study is to analyze the influence of radio political advertising on the voting behaviour of the rural residents of Iree Community.  It is also an attempt to find out how the radio political messages determines the voting behviours of the Iree electorates or otherwise.
To determine the extent radio political advertising influence the electorates to vote during the April 2007 election.
1.4   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 
The result of this study will be useful to policy formulators and implementers for devising viable political campaign policies that will be in line with the socio-cultural and political orientation of the rural residents or electorates.
This study will also help the government and its agencies in making policy decisions on the best way to channel political education to the rural electorates or votes for effective participation in the electoral process.
Besides, the study will immensely enhance media organizations to understand the appropriate way of structuring information for its rural audience and assist them in knowing the most effective medium of political information dissemination available to rural residents.
It will also be useful to Nigerian media practitioners, communication experts, politicians, political science students, as well as other members of the public, to improve their knowledge and skills in the area of utilizing the mass media for the execution of political campaign or mobilization of rural residents.
Finally, it will serve as a veritable reference material for scholars and students of political communication.
1.5   RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Three research questions will be used for the purpose of this study. They are;

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