Abstract

This study investigated advertising messages, issues, dominant images and 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria. The build-up to the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria, as with most elections in the country and indeed across the world, was characterised by heavy usage of advertisement across a variety of media. The key political parties in the election, the All Progressives Congress (APC; ruling party) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP; opposition party) received a lot of media air time via adverts. Concerns were raised whether their advertisement were issues based. Set against the agenda-setting theory, framing theory and social responsibility theory, this study, therefore, sought to study how political adverts were used by APC and PDP in the 2019 presidential election, specifically to determine the extent of use, issues addressed in the ads and frames used in delivering the ads. 186 ads were analysed from 5 media organisations and the findings revealed that political advertisement was heavily used by APC and PDP. Findings revealed among others that the dominant issues in the election advertisements were religion and ethnicity; also, issues were framed along religious and ethnic line; and the factors that influence the choice of media platforms were the dominant stature of the media on the media space especially as it relates to their coverage and readership. It was recommended that political campaign focus more on issues of governance and depart from ethnic and religious based campaigns that will not add value to nation building. 

Key Words: Political Advertisement, Dominant Images, 2019 Presidential Elections, Nigeria

JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 15, No. 1, April 2023, pp. 54-65.

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

About the authors

* Babatunde Adeshina Faustino, (Corresponding Author), is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.

** Abigail Odozi Ogwezzy-Ndisika, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. 

*** Charles Chinedu Onwunali, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. His main research and teaching interests include Advertising and Consumer Rights Protection, Advertising Ethics and Public Policy, the role of Gender in Social, Political and Economic Developments and Media History.

**** Shaibu Husseini, Ph.D., is a Senior Teaching/Research Fellow in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria and Head of the Strategic Communication Department of the National Troupe of Nigeria, a parastatal of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

***** Samuel Ejiwunmi is a Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.

Article Citation

Faustino, B. A.; Ogwezzy-Ndisika, A. O.; Onwunali, C. C.; Husseini, S. & Ejiwunmi, S. (2023). Advertising messages, issues and dominant images of 2019 Nigeria presidential elections. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 15 (1): 54-65.

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