An Epidemic in the Political World
By Juliette Michelle Acielo
Back then, simply posting billboards and distributing flyers with the candidate's name and a vote-for-me sign worked. Now, observe how candidates promote themselves, going to the extent of overlapping their rivals. They exert a tremendous amount of effort and dedicate a lot of their time to increase their popularity. The techonological progress has helped them achieve their goal but it has also led to a campaign epidemic.
Promotion has taken one step further and has evolved to adapt to the current generatoin. From slogans, the advertising industry has creatively come up with jingles. With catchy lyrics and tunes that are easy to sing along with, it is almost impossible to ignore. Filipinos, being the music lovers they are, tend to like them.
Good deeds, politicians know, are "plus points". The majority of Filipino voters naturally look for the ideal qualities in their future leader. While there are some who honestly have the country's future in mind, there are still others who use good means for a selfish cause - power and money.
In the midst of the campaign fever, there is an increasing awareness of deceptive promotion. Filipinos are exerting a lot of effort to raise this awareness even more. With the elections fast approaching, it is no wonder that many organizations have already been established. These groups advocate fair elections, launching programs and using the media to help others decide whom to vote. Interviews and live discussions with the candidates are aired.
For as long as there are elections, there will always be people who would literally do anything for the sake of greed. Somehow, this can be noted by the surge of commercial and radio ads as well as the abundance of campaign giveaways. Voters, however, will not be as easily persuaded by these promotional activities as before. Technology has, indeed, played an important role in the campaign epidemic yet it is also an essential to the advocacy of fair elections.
