WASHINGTON -- The 2002 election could be the last in which old media dominates political advertising, if recent actions by the Federal Election Commission bear fruit.
In late August, the FEC granted a petition by New Jersey-based Target Wireless to waive disclosure rules for political ads beamed to wireless devices using short message service technology, meaning that SMS political ads wouldn't have to disclose who paid for them.
Then the agency started investigating whether the campaign finance law sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) is too hands-off for emerging mediums such as interactive TV services. The McCain-Feingold law takes effect after the Nov. 6 elections.
The issue is far from cut and dried. McCain and Feingold agree that websites and e-mail communications should be exempted from strict rules, but they want the FEC to consider including messages that may be the "functional equivalent" of radio and television broadcasts such as messages transmitted over the Internet to a TV set.
Because broadcast spectrum is finite and newsprint is not, regulators have always treated the mediums differently. The question is how to categorize the Web TV and SMS, which don't fit neatly into either group.
"This blurriness has to do with what is a frustrating division between print and broadcast," said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political science professor at MIT. "This is all going to be revisited because everything is based on old technological assumptions."
For example, how does one track an ad posted on a website by an individual or group not working with the campaign, even if that ad was retrieved through Web TV or Internet radio?
Of course, the big question is whether political campaigns will use new mediums in a widespread way. SMS, for example, remains merely an experimental channel for mainstream consumer marketers, much less politicians trying to get the most bang for their their campaign buck.
"I don't see what kind of value there is in saying, 'Vote for X,'" said Brian Levin, CEO of Mobliss, an SMS marketing company. "There are other mediums in which you could get a lot more punch for that kind of thing."
Levin said candidates might use two-way SMS to poll constituents or get feedback on campaign issues. Either way, he said, any SMS ads should be opt-in only, lest candidates suffer the same backlash now directed at e-mail spammers.
Others agree that using new media ads during political campaigns may not become widespread for some time.
"Any of the agencies and publishers that we have spoken to don't foresee too much political advertising occurring online in the near term," said DoubleClick spokesman David Frankland.
Others are equally skeptical.
"We do not see that as being a big sector right now," said Allie Savarino, senior vice president of global marketing and partner services at Unicast, which produces superstitial Web ads that resemble TV commercials.
"It will grow in the next presidential election," said Ansolabehere.
There's something to look forward to: political smear ads on your cell phone.
