Government Advertising Policies

Voters Wary of Public Money Being Used to Propagandize Taxpayers

Aug 7, 2008

A look at government advertising in the United States, Canada and Australia and the questions it generates about propagandizing taxpayers.

Government’s right to advertise has been well accepted around the world, but that approval is accompanied by a growing number of cynical questions about the cost, control and nature of such advertising. Voters are suspicious of public money being used to "propagandize taxpayers."

Some advertising questions arose in Canada recently after the Harper Administration more than doubled the government’s ad budget in its first fiscal year, increasing it from $41.3 million to $86.9 million.

The Montreal Gazette asked:"What was the money spent on? Did this increase involve advertising with a partisan sub-text? Were there legitimate reasons for the spend to spiral?"

Public Works Minister Christian Paradis said the increase was "sound and responsible." He said $17.6-million of it was spent on the Defense Department’s "Fight with the Canadian Forces" recruitment campaign. Another $11.3 million was spent on Human Resources Department ads "telling parents they should be planning for their children's education."

Recalling Canada’s "Sponsorship Scandal"

The ad increase raised questions about whether taxpayer money was being used "to promote the governing party's agenda." The Gazette said it also stirred memories of the recent "sponsorship scandal whose cast of characters included advertising agencies that ‘broke every rule in the book.’"

The newspaper warned against "improper or even debatable use of taxpayers' money to propagandize taxpayers." It said the government should make sure that public policy announcements don't become "partisan advertising."

At least Canadians seem to know how much their government spends on advertising, which is probably minute compared to what is spent by the United States government. It’s unlikely anyone knows exactly how much money the U.S. federal government spends directly on advertising. If one looks hard enough one can find a $654 million line item for "international broadcasting" listed in the budget for "foreign information and exchange activities," but that’s a small part of just the Defense ad budget and no indication of total ad spending.

Since Americans usually don’t like to see tax money spent on advertising, ad dollars are often hidden in such departmental budget headings as military spending, operations and maintenance, procurement, research, development and evaluation. With more than 20 different department and agency budgets to decode, it would be difficult to determine how much money the U.S. government spends on advertising.

Signs of Political Promotion

Individual items such as the Defense Department’s recruiting budget occasionally draw some public criticism. However, U.S. federal, state and local government advertising is watched mostly for signs of political promotion and is usually limited to:

Most government bodies contract agencies to handle their advertising, usually on a professional services basis and often without public bidding. Some go to political contributors.

Guidelines on Campaign Advertising

Advertising contracts are a lingering issue in Australia. In 2008 the Rudd Administration published what it called "Guidelines on Campaign Advertising by Australian Government Departments and Agencies." The document quickly drew criticism as being too vague.

The opposing Liberal Party recalled that in the last election campaign, Rudd issued a document saying his Labor Party would "end the abuse of government advertising. All ad campaigns in excess of $250,000 will be vetted by the Auditor General."

But one senator pointed out that Rudd’s recent ad guidelines do not mention the word "vetted" and give all such power to the Cabinet Secretary instead of the Auditor General.

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