Conservative Party Political Broadcast – East Africa Appeal
Howard Lake | 10 October 2011 | News
The Conservative Party has chosen to use its allotted airtime for a party political broadcast to make an appeal on behalf of the current East Africa emergency appeal. This is the first time that a UK political party has donated its airtime in this way.
A string of Conservative MPs are seen explaining why they could have made a standard party political advert but instead have chosen to do something different. The tone at first is humorous and self-mocking about the content and impact of a party political broadcast. It then becomes more serious as the MPs and Ministers explain the need for support to deal with the crisis in East Africa.
They remind us that the British government has already given £150 million in aid for emergency assistance, and then they praise the hundreds of thousands of Britons who have to the appeal. Viewers are told that all those seen in the advert have made personal donations to the appeal.
The advert concludes with the Prime Minister David Cameron asking viewers themselves to donate. The call to action, however, is not as clear as it could be. Mr Cameron says: “Please, go online and support the East Africa appeal today”. This is then followed by an on-screen message: “Go online and search for EAST AFRICA APPEAL”
Nowhere in the broadcast is a particular charity mentioned by name. Nor is the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) mentioned. As a result, there is no URL given when viewers can visit.
Nor indeed is there any mention of giving by text.
There could well be good reasons for this, such as political parties not being seen to endorse one charity over another. But that is why the DEC would be such a good organisation to mention, given its umbrella, co-ordinating function.
So, the UK population escapes one more traditional party political broadcast, and the Conservatives show a commendable, if slightly odd, creative approach to making real and valuable use of their airtime. Seeing several members of HM Government reminding us that a child dies every six minutes, in the style of so many campaigning celebrities appealing to governments to give more, is an odd feeling. Such crusading, hard-hitting messages are usually the preserve of the disenfranchised, the political opposition or the non-governmental organisation. It’s somewhat worrying when those in power are calling on us the people to help change the status quo, suggesting they, with the aid budget, can do no more.
But how effective is the advert in terms of generating income? I’d like to know but I don’t think there is any way to measure it. I wonder if they took advice from fundraisers on how to make the very best of this opportunity.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.