Can the strategy of negative political advertising developed in the United States succeed in Canada, or does this kind of advertising do more harm than good?
The year 1988 saw elections in both the United States and Canada. It also saw a turning point in the tenor of television campaign advertising. By the early 1990s there was a growing reliance upon negative political images and symbols.
This book is about that growing reliance. While focusing on the use of “attack” ads, Television Advertising in Canadian Elections provides a historical overview of the growth of negative advertising. It includes a discussion of advertisers’ intentions and strategies, an analysis of the ads played on both English language and French television and their impact and the ethics of political advertising.
This is the first book-length investigation of negative political advertising in Canada. Professional politicians, as well as anyone interested in election politics, journalism, communication studies or advertising, will find this an absorbing study.

Kai Hildebrandt is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Windsor. Soderlund and Hildebrandt (with Romanow and Wagenberg) co-wrote Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence: Rediscovering Social Responsibility.

Kai Hildebrandt's profile page

Professor de Repentigny studies mass media and communication.

Michel de Repentigny's profile page

Professor Cunningham studies mass media and communication.

Stanley B. Cunningham's profile page

Walter C. Soderlund is a professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Windsor. His most recent publication (with Abdel Salam Sidahmed and E. Donald Briggs) is The Responsibility to Protect in Darfur: The Role of Mass Media (2010).

E. Donald Briggs is a professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Windsor, where he taught full-time for nearly forty years.

Tom Pierre Najem researches in the areas of international relations and comparative politics, with a regional specialization in the Middle East. He has lived and worked in the Middle East and North Africa and has held academic posts in Morocco and England.

Blake C. Roberts is the interim academic advisor of the University of Windsor’s Digital-Journalism program and a sessional instructor and research associate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Windsor.

Walter C. Soderlund's profile page

Professor Romanow, prior to teaching, followed a career in television broadcasting. Professors de Repentigny, Cunningham, Soderlund and Hildebrandt teach in university departments dedicated to the study of mass media and communication.

Walter I. Romanow's profile page

[T]his volume makes an important contribution, both in terms of theory and practice, to understanding the permanent part that TV plays in modern elections.

James Gillies, <i>Literary Review of Canada</i>