Breaking through Clutter: Analysis of Mobile Political Advertising in Malaysia

Abstract

Political advertising is a type of marketing communication that attempts to influence upon issues of extensive political debate. In the era of IR 4.0, the platforms used to communicate political issues vary ranging from conventional media to new online media like social media and mobile advertising apps. During the past a few general elections in Malaysia, public witnessed changes in political campaigns with the use of advertisements not only on the mainstream television and in the newspapers, but also in other forms of online media. With the arrival of these modern-day advertising media, the role of political campaigners has becoming more challenging than ever. In the recent 2018 14th General Election the use of the mobile advertising platform was seen as dominant. This study was conducted to investigate voters' advertising perceptions and attitudes toward political advertising in Malaysia, delivered mobile advertising platform (WhatsApp). The study confirms that attitudes toward political advertising can only be predicted by product information function for the media under study. The implications of the study focus on consumers' perceptual shift in terms of the relevance of mobile app (WhatsApp) in propagating political parties in Malaysia, hence breaking through the advertising clutter. The limitations of the study are also discussed.