By: Lisa Van Der Pool (
Adweek.com) Even without a recall election in California to help fuel its growth, advocacy advertising would still be a substantial category. Unions, ballot activists, political parties and other groups are spending more in recent years -- reaching some $300 million in the first half of 2003 -- on ads designed to sway public opinion on various issues.
Various organizations spent a total of $645 million on advocacy ads in 2002, up from $520 million the year before, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. Newspapers picked up a small piece of this pie -- $61 million in 2001 and $67 million in 2002. For the first six months of this year, newspapers garnered $28 million. Broadcast television gets the largest share of the dollars, with magazines also beating newspapers. Papers were slightly ahead of radio and cable TV.
"It is certainly a growing niche," said Linda Dove, senior vice president and manager of state government relations at the Washington office of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. "We're coming into a presidential election year, [but advocacy advertising] is as much about issues as it is about elections."
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