Corporations can bankroll disinformation with ads

TO THE EDITOR:

In response to Brandon Blalock’s letter (“Peoples’ political opinions formed by more than ads,” Jan. 26), I think that Brandon asks the wrong question with, “How likely are those values to change due to advertising?”

I agree that it’s unlikely that a company could run an ad that would change someone’s “core beliefs and values.” But companies with advertising budgets that far surpass those of any political campaign can present biased messages against a candidate that the opposing candidate could never dream of affording.

The effectiveness of such TV ads cannot be denied, as campaigns already use them to persuade less politically inclined voters. Allowing companies to run political ads will only further facilitate candidates’ focusing on the wishes of big corporations at the expense of creating policy that will actually benefit individual citizens.

A second flaw in Brandon’s argument is that he cannot assume that people actually vote based on their beliefs. If this were true, then every voter could boast fact-based knowledge of every candidate, when in reality, most water cooler political discussions consist of people who are going to blindly pull the straight-ticket lever, spitting out phrases from the latest TV ads.

And as for Brandon’s personified Wal-Mart: No, it should not have the right to express its political ideals. Wal-Mart cannot vote; Wal-Mart isn’t even human.



Hannah Martin
Junior
Nutrition