ABSTRACT
The history of Italian political spots has been marked by distinctive features of the country’s political, institutional, historical and legislative structure that distinguish it from developments elsewhere. Like the periodization of modern political communication (Blumler & Kavanagh, 1999) – which in Italy’s case seems to have developed mostly in the second age, marked by the presence of television (Novelli, 2006) – the history of Italian political ads also seems to have taken a distinctive course. The initial explosion of spots in the 1980s, characterized by euphoria matched by equally deep-seated suspicion between politicians and political parties, led to a phase when repeated attempts were made to introduce strict regulations that actually aimed to curtail political advertising. The result was a production of ads variable in quantity and quality down the years.
