TELEVISION AS A MEDIUM OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING DURING ELECTIONS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

The paper is an evaluation of the influence of television political advertising on electorates’ attitude toward voting in Anambra State. The study, among others, aims at finding out whether exposure to television advertising influences respondents’ preference for advertised candidate. The study is anchored on the agenda setting and reinforcement theory. Survey research method was adopted while the questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection. The findings show that exposure to television advertising influences voters’ preference for advertised candidates. The findings also show that television advertising generates quicker recall of advertised candidates in voters. Based on the findings, the paper concludes that the influence of television political advertising on electorates is such that it makes the voters to recall the advertised candidate and that it persuasively generates in voters, preference for the advertised candidate. The paper, therefore recommends, among others, that political parties in Nigeria should give due attention to the use of television for the dissemination of political activities.