If a picture tells a thousand words, then politicians in office who have their names and pictures posted almost everywhere in their towns and cities have told stories about themselves with millions of words.

The original Chinese saying actually says “A picture is worth a thousand words.” So we can segue to the idea that the cost of these politicians’ name and face recall campaigns is much higher than millions of words. The chances of garnering voters through epal marketing tactics cannot be ignored. And one must not forget that the money used belong to the people.

Advertisements play a big role in shaping the minds of the public. That is why it is in the best interest of these politicians to make known their presence and their accomplishments to their voters.

University of the Philippines Dean of Business Administration Ben Paul Gutierrez says that in terms of candidacies “a person is also a product,” which is why politicians do not fall short in selling their image for people to “buy.”

When a multinational corporation like Proctor and Gamble or Unilever launches a consumer product, they spend millions of pesos on print ads, radio-TV commercials, and below-the-line promotions. Samples of their new product will be given away in malls and door-to-door salespeople will offer special deals to target consumers.

This is no different from candidates for elective positions. They want people to “buy” their services by voting for them instead of their opponents. Politicians make use of all marketing avenues to make the public remember their name and know their accomplishments.

Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian knows the value of sound marketing tactics, showing his accomplishments to the voters of his city by putting up posters and tarpaulins in various government projects he has spearheaded.

Gatchalian does not think that his public information campaign should be considered “epalitics” but rather good politics. During his second year as mayor, he found out that the people of Valenzuela generally did not know what he was doing for them.

The posters and tarps he has placed in front of his pet projects prove to be effective means of disseminating information.

Other “epaloticians” share Gatchalians’ laments about the criticisms against them. In a television news special report on “epalitics” aired on Solar News, a couple of politicians spoke out on the effectiveness of these political ads.

Quezon City’s 2nd District Representative Winnie Castelo described this marketing tactic as part of the ruling politico’s job. He said, “This is part of being transparent. Eto po ay parte ng aming trabaho upang malaman ng taong bayan kung anu-ano po ang mga serbisyong makukuha po nila sa pamahalaan (this is part of our job so that the public would know what services they can get from the government).”

Wife of then-presidential candidate Manny Villar, Mrs. Cynthia Villar, also saw nothing wrong with publicizing political accomplishments.

“Those are just [ways of] telling the people that they have benefited from our livelihood projects. What’s wrong with that? Hindi ako pwede mag say sorry for something good that I have done. I have done it well and I am proud of it and there is nothing wrong with telling people that you can do this,” she said.

Although President Benigno Aquino 3rd together with the Departments of Interior and Local Government and Public Works and Highways do not allow this kind of political advertising, local and national government officials see it necessary to let people know what they have done and what they can do for the public.

However, Dean Gutierrez does not see the effectiveness of these billboards and tarpaulins that show these political faces, because the only target audience of these marketing tools is traffic. One-line messages attached to a name and a face are not enough, says the dean. This is only for name recall and does not serve as means to deliver the message of the politician.

Still, even in product marketing, name recall is an essential goal.

There are different avenues for political marketing that can be utilized to gain more votes. Billboards in a busy area cost roughly P120,000 per month, and are specifically targeted to motorists and foot traffic.

A newly discovered medium is social media, in which the targeted voters are the yuppies and netizens, albeit a smaller population than busy-street motorists. Social media have proved to be more effective than traditional media in boosting new faces and demolioshing old ones.

The UP dean believes that among all the marketing tools television is still the most effective. “Ninety percent or nearly everyone watches entertainment media,” he told The Manila Times. Radio and print media can send out clear messages to the voters, but its listeners and readers are continually decline.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) does not particularly agree with the practice of “epalitics.” Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes said in an interview, “Epal posters cheapen our electoral process as if these candidates are supermarket commodities that need to be advertised. The best way to deal with these epals (is to) remember their faces now and forget their names come election day.”

But if epalitics seem like the only way for ruling politicians to make their accomplishments known, then what other possible media can they utilize to give themselves credit for their accomplishments?

There seems to be neither solution nor control in political advertising, and so the public has no choice but to bear the nuisance of these name and faces until the government finds a way to regulate this decades-old practice of politicians.

“Majority of the electorate is in the D and E classes, which makes up 70 percent of the population,” Mr. Gutierrez told The Times. He believes that the most important marketing tactic for these politicians is to target this pool of voters.

Face-to-face campaigning is at the top of his list as being the most effective marketing strategy for local politicians. It is also important that the politicians’ campaign organization be well-established and aggressive. This way, politicians have a personal connection to the public, making his or her name and advocacies known and remembered.

This is okay for local government positions. For politicians gunning for senate seats or the presidency, it is next to impossible to personally interact with the public in every city and province.

But this can be solved. According to the dean, “vote buying at the grassroots level is still present to this day.”

On the final analysis, the more money you have, the more votes you get. The effectiveness of political ads all boils down to the depth of the candidate’s pocket.

Shiela Mañalac is a journalism student of The Manila Times College.