People's National Party (PNP) president Portia Simpson Miller holds aloft an abeng, a symbolic instrument of the Maroons, at a PNP mass rally at Portia Simpson Miller Square, on Tuesday night. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

Speaking on The Breakfast Club (NewsTalk 94) Tuesday, People's National Party (PNP) General Secretary Donald Buchanan complained about the "nastiness" in some of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ads in the election campaign to date.

He did not identify any specific ads but it can be assumed that he was referring to the two most talked-about TV commercials of the campaign, namely, 'Don't Draw Mi Tongue' and 'Portia's Farmer' in which the JLP targeted PNP President and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, questioning her capability to run the Government.

Buchanan said the PNP would not engage in similar kinds of advertising but promised that in the coming days there would be PNP ads to remind voters of what the JLP leadership has "done to decimate each other", including "pushing out Eddie Seaga" as JLP leader.

On the same programme, JLP General Secretary Karl Samuda said the current ads were "effective", suggesting that there would be no immediate pull-back from that style of advertising.

Propriety and fairness

The Prime Minister has herself complained about the propriety and fairness of the ads, pointing out that one contains a digital distortion of her image, while the other was untrue, because she did not engage in the presumed conversation that the ad purported to represent.

Mrs. Simpson Miller has a point about the fairness of digital distortion of her image to give the impression of a person out of control. She is on less secure grounds with 'Portia's Farmer' because the lead role in that commercial was clearly being played by an actor rather than a real-life person from the Prime Minister's home district.

The larger question around these and other negative advertising, which has also been used by the PNP, has to do with their credibility and effectiveness.

Judging by the frequency of rotation of the two ads on CVM and TVJ in the prime-time period from 7.00-9.00 pm, the highest viewing period on television, the JLP clearly believe the ads are working.

In the week between Tuesday, August 8 and Monday, August 13, 'Portia's Farmer' aired 15 times in CVM's News Watch Hour and 19 times in the 7-9 slot on TVJ. In the five nights from August 9-13, 'Don't Draw Mi Tongue' aired 10 times on CVM and 14 times on TVJ.

Some experts believe that once the negative impression has been formed about the candidate or policy that is the target of the ad, excessive repetition can become a turn-off and attract sympathy for the target and negative feelings towards the sender.

Meanwhile, the JLP attacks on Mrs. Simpson Miller continued Tuesday night with a new TV commercial highlighting squalor and lack of development in her South West St. Andrew constituency.

After showing several scenes of decay and negative testimonials by presumed 'residents', the ad ends with a voice-over pointing out that if Mrs. Simpson Miller cannot bring development to her constituency, she cannot do it for the country.