Well, the silly election season is here once again and this means the spending of millions of dollars on advertisements in the electronic and print media. If past experiences are anything to go by, it will also mean the smearing of the character of one's opponents, the distortion of facts and the propagation of outright lies.

There will be some telling sound bites, creative technological engineering and use of various genres of music. In all of this, it will be entertaining, captivating and, in some instances, pleasing to the ears and eyes. It will be no holds bar as the political parties jostle for votes in this election.

It is almost a guarantee that our main political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP) will deliver heavy blows below the belt, which should be ruled as low blows and penalised as such.

But who will be the watchdog? I daresay it should not be left to the political ombudsman or even the Broadcast Commission alone. We should all let our voices be heard when something despicable or distasteful is being foisted on us, the Jamaica people.

The interesting thing about this is that even when an advert is withdrawn under pressure from the ombudsman and others, and when even an apology is tendered, the damage would have already been done and the political parties know it. It would have already been done from the standpoint that it had been published and broadcasted and seen by thousands of people, and created doubts in the minds of many.

clean campaign

So what, then, should be done? Political parties should commit to keeping a clean campaign, devoid of lying and needless and senseless bashing of their opponents. They should focus on articulating messages around core issues.

If needs be, let them sign a code of conduct which may not be more than just symbolic, but signal an intention of raising the bar of our politics. In the past, they have given verbal commitments only to break them in the height of the election fever. The parties cannot now blame the masses, their supporters, for indiscretion in advertisements, as the so-called big wigs and intellectuals are mainly those managing this part of the election campaign.

racial overtones

Over the years we have been treated to slogans embedded in catchy music. However, perhaps the most potent of slogans was 'Heavy Manners' put forward by the PNP in the 1970s. It was taken from Neville Martin's song, The Message, which sought to enumerate the achievements of the PNP while in government. The song, however, had two strikes against it. The first was that it had racial overtones in "my leader born yah" and second, it was said to be glorifying common-law union in "No bastard no deh again." It, however, showed the PNP as a party of performance.

For the JLP, their best effort was perhaps the 1993 slogan, 'Action, not a bag a mouth', taken from the song Action by Terror Fabulous and Nadine Sutherland. The slogan showed the party as focused and results-oriented. Ever since the 1960s, the parties have adopted popular Jamaican music for use in electioneering.

Hopefully, they will desist from playing the race card this time around, no matter how vaguely. We should avoid character assassination and false representations.

Campaign adverts can be launched against one's opponents without employing any of these boring tactics. It can be a medium of entertainment for the viewers and a source of creative outlet for the inventors. Let us not abuse this privilege.

So what, then, should be done? Political parties should commit to keeping a clean campaign, devoid of lying and needless and senseless bashing of their opponents. They should focus on articulating messages around core issues.