rolls out 40 short videos to take on rivals

DMK buys up online ad space, opponents caught napping

CHENNAI: On the eve of polls, parties have started a digital media war. With the Election Commission approving 40 short videos, the ruling AIADMK has hit out at the DMK for its failures and misdeeds. The videos also list out the achievement of the AIADMK governments headed by J Jayalalithaa in the past and Edappadi K Palaniswami now.The AIADMK IT wing , which has brought out the videos, is targeting about one crore millennials. It has planned a massive three-day campaign by roping in party district units to reach out to several lakh smart-phone-savvy youngsters.Meanwhile, the DMK campaign, “We want neither oppressors, nor slaves” is gaining momentum.The AIAMDK’s latest campaign slogan translates to, “Don’t commit the mistake, don’t vote for the DMK”. The party has released 17 videos of attacks by DMK functionaries in various places – biriyani shops, mobile outlets and against women at beauty parlour and coconut sellers on road side. The videos also blame the DMK for giving up the state’s rights and agreeing to Neet, oil exploration and jallikattu. Even on the Sterlite issue, it blames the opposition. There are videos that question the DMK’s secular credentials too.The official twitter handles of chief minister and deputy chief minister and scores of party functionaries help the party pick up momentum for the social media campaign. “The DMK’s five-year tenure in the last two decades was the dark era of Tamil Nadu . People had to put up with 16-hour power cuts, rowdyism, khap panchayat and land grabbing. We are exposing them. Our campaign against the DMK is based on well-researched data,” AIADMK IT wing secretary Singai G Ramachandran said.The ruling party has brought out one video on Vaiko too, making fun of his ‘U turns’ on Rahul’s leadership.The party has hit out at every candidate of the opposition by recalling their past records. It has sought to expose the contradictory political stands taken by the CPM in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While it is an ally of the Congress in Tamil Nadu, it is fighting against the party in Kerala. IJK leader Parivendar has come in for criticism for the criminal cases faced by him. About 120 bilingual-infographics and 11 videos released by the AIADMK talk about the government’s achievements in the power sector, education, health and law and order, and resolving inter-state water disputes.The videos blame the DMK for ceding Katchatheevu islet, signing of agreement for methane extraction and failing to renew the agreement with Karnataka on sharing Cauvery water in 1974. One of the videos shows DMK MPs sharing pleasantries with former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the ethnic war ended.DMK IT wing has cornered a lion’s share of advertisement space of online giant Google’s Adsense and social media platforms for online campaigning till the end of polling on April 18.Sources in the DMK IT wing said they have “outsmarted” their opponents by limiting their presence on the online campaign platforms by blocking bulk of the prime ad space on You-Tube, ShareChat, private publishers, Facebook and Twitter.Most of the slots from masthead, top and side banners available on the prime social media platforms have been blocked until voting in the state by the DMK, BJP state IT wing president R Nirmal Kumar told TOI. “This has reduced our presence on the social media and they (DMK) would have invested several crores of rupees in this exercise,” added Nirmal.A DMK functionary said it was part of their IT wing strategy, led by P T R Thiayagaran after party president M K Stain gave his approval for an aggressive campaign in the digital world. “We planned well in advance and gradually increased the purchase of the advertisement inventory from 0.5% to 10% to 20% and went on to block more than 70% of the ad space, leaving little scope for the opposition camps. We have invested several crores of rupees for the online campaign,” he said.The DMK has also blocked a huge chunk of the ad space on online media pages, which have huge consumers/ readers. “We will intensify the campaign and constituency-specific content will hit the online platforms in the coming days,” he added.Though the saffron party’s IT wing was active and they sustain their digital campaigning, the Dravidian party’s strategy caught them off-guard. “We approached Google ads and other online media publishers looking for ad space for the final leg of the campaigning, but there was no space available. We were told that no slots were available till April 18,” said Nirmal Kumar.Unlike elections from earlier days, social media has taken over as the media used for propaganda and it is predominantly used by the political parties to reach a large section of the voters aged between 18 and 40 years.Commenting on the clash for ads on digital space, T R Gopalakrishnan, an assistant professor of journalism and communication at the University of Madras, said, “Online campaign is inevitable and it is seen as an important strategy to reach out. It is necessary for the political parties to ensure their presence, but it will not guarantee victory”.