Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage launched his party’s latest political advert on Thursday night, breaking with tradition by broadcasting just one video clip, lasting nearly five minutes and with no sound.
In the UK, political advertising is illegal on television, except in a small number of highly regulated slots allocated by the government to political parties known as “party political broadcasts.” This restrictive format prevents particularly well-funded parties from saturating the airwaves.
Your TV isn’t broken, but Britain’s is.
We hope you enjoy our party’s election coverage. pic.twitter.com/VWAqtEszxU
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 13, 2024
Traditionally, these parties’ political ads are information-packed bursts accompanied by emotive music and have been decisive in election outcomes in past voting cycles: in 1997, for example, Labour’s broadcast theme song became a symbol of the party’s landslide victory.
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party went ahead with its scheduled broadcast tonight but broke with tradition by showing a black screen with the simple words: “Britain is falling apart. Britain needs reform.”
The image remained static and silent for five minutes to give viewers time to reflect, with Farage saying of the ad: “Your TV isn’t broken but Britain is broken. I hope you enjoy my party’s election coverage.”
That same day, he teased the release of the TV spot, writing, “It’s amazing we even got through regulation, but we did it. You don’t want to miss it.”
Party politics broadcast by Reform. It was a 5 minute slot on Channel 4 and this was all that was on the screen for the whole 5 minutes. They’re not my party and I can’t stand Farage but this is pretty genius if you ask me! pic.twitter.com/sCFpz3j8S2
— JRoll (@JudyRollinson) June 13, 2024
