The golden rule of political campaigns: the most successful ads exploit truth. – Stuff.co.nz

OPINION: Drivers crawling along the busy, two-lane stretch of Totara Stbetween Tauranga and Mount Maunganui have time to study the crop of local election signs.

One stands out. It features a picture of a man, asleep on a couch, mouth gaping slightly open. The accompanying slogan is: "I'll do my best but I can't promise anything."

It's a joke, and the candidate isn't running for real. But it's probably the most honest political ad you'll see in the coming year.

Hoardings are also now quaintly old-fashioned, in this age of online political campaigns.

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Digital propaganda became ubiquitous in 2016, with the UK's Brexit referendum and the presidential election duelled out in people's Facebook feeds.

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This joke billboard went viral after it was pictured on Facebook.

The recent Australian election was fought online, with digital teams creating customised Facebook posts that was tailored to location, demographic, and even financial status.

Online advertising is cheap to produce and run, and engagement rates are micro-analysed to assess what messages are resonating.

New Zealand has finally caught up, and in the last few months, National has subjected its social media followers to a relentless blitz of online ads.

They've lasered in on the Government's clean car "feebate" scheme, and built a campaign around the theme: "New Zealanders can't afford this Government."

In the main, they are negative.

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Simon Bridges says Speaker Trevor Mallard's ruling on political advertising is a freedom of speech issue.

Voters say they don't like negative campaigning, but they do pay attention to it. If a creative message scares, worries us, or provokes an emotional response we're much more likely to remember it.

But there is also a golden rule: the most successful ads exploit truth. They hint at something voters already suspect or believe in.

There's a good argument for negative campaigning: useful decisions are rarely made by weighing up only the positive information supplied by candidates. You'd never buy a car based only on glowing references from the manufacturer.

'Attack' ads are less effective. They focus on personality or physical traits, not policy. And voters - especially in under-dog loving New Zealand - resist them.

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The ad which prompted the Speaker's crackdown.

There has been much hand-wringing about the rise of these online ads, and what damage they could do in a post-truth era. Some have called for a mandatory transparency tool for Facebook political ads.

These concerns culminated in a humourless complaint from Labour about the edited use of Parliamentary footage.

National had used a clip that showed Labour MP Deborah Russell rambling on about the ancient Greeks. Speaker Trevor Mallard stepped in an enforced an existing ban.

The party also got slapped down for a 'car tax' ad and was twice admonished by the Advertising Standards Authority.

And the Greens suffered their own backlash over a controversial skit that mocked Simon Bridges' accent. Public disapproval forced them to delete it.

There's no evidence Kiwis are being passively manipulated by dirty tactics or misinformation, ready to harden into the political fury of Brexit or the US culture wars.

The public are attuned to the rough and tumble of politics. They're more active, independent and critical than ever before: using social media to call out distortion, rebutting and attacking the framing of issues.

Labour do have cause for concern in one respect. Social media negativity is more often the desperation strategy of underdog candidates.

And this week, National switched gear: with a campaign extolling #9yearsofprogress.

(Hey, no-one said positive ads had to be truthful).

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The golden rule of political campaigns: the most successful ads exploit truth. - Stuff.co.nz