Deceptive political advertising: Some new dimensions

In 2010 the Supreme Court (Citizens United v. FEC) overruled, on First Amendment grounds, the electioneering spending limits of political campaigns. This has led to a heightened concern about the role of money in politics. It is proposed that more than the amount of money spent in political campaigns it is how it spent that is a bigger cause for concern. Research indicates that some of the political ads are misleading and yet effective in influencing public opinion. The increasing use of deceptive political advertising has ethical and public policy implications. Some of these ads focus on a single event from the past, and research indicates that human decision-making can be significantly influenced by a single instance from an individual's past experience or memory. This paper provides the theoretical background and presents a model of how single exemplars might influence decision-making and how their effect may be offset by appropriate action. Possible solutions to mitigate the negative effects of deceptive political advertising are discussed in the context of the model.