BJP outshines ruling TMC in race for social media advertisement campaigns
The TMC has spent nearly two million on advertisements on Facebook in the last three months; not to be left behind; the Bengal BJP has caught up and in the last one month has spent more than its main rival.
With the crucial 2021 West Bengal assembly elections approaching and rallies of political parties restricted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal unit are spending lakhs of rupees for advertisements on social media to improve their digital campaigns.
The TMC has spent nearly two million on advertisements on Facebook in the last three months; not to be left behind; the Bengal BJP has caught up and in the last one month has spent more than its main rival.
Facebook’s advertisement library report reveals that between June 24 and September 21, the TMC has spent Rs 1.81 million on 93 advertisements on social media while the BJP has spent around Rs 1.22 million on 52 advertisements.
But if one considers the data of last one month (August 23 – September 21), then the BJP has surpassed the TMC with such spending. While the BJP has spent 1.04 million on 26 ads during the last 30 days, the TMC has spent around 3.35 lakhs on 42 ads. This means 85% of what the BJP spent on social media advertisement had come in the last one month.
“The BJP at the Centre is gradually selling out all assets of the country and hence has loads of money with which they can give such advertisements. Their advertisements will increase as they need to spread lies. The Mamata Banerjee-led government has done a lot of work. Our work speaks for us. People have seen the BJP and what harm it can do,” said Tapas Roy minister of state for parliamentary affairs and a spokesperson of the ruling TMC.
While there was a ban on political gathering during the lockdown, the Union home ministry had on August 29 allowed political functions with a ceiling of 100 people from September 21.
The Bengal BJP unit’s page, however, has been liked by more than 1.5 million compared to 9.4 lakh likes received by the TMC’s page.
“During the pandemic when other modes of political campaigns have been restricted, social media has become a vital means to connect with the people. Most of the advertisements of the BJP relates to outreach programs. The BJP is doing whatever it takes to reach out to the masses,” said Jai Prakash Majumdar, BJP’s state vice president.
While the TMC and the BJP are gearing up for the polls next year with their social media advertisement campaigns the other parties in the state including the Congress seem to be left behind in the race.
“It is true that social networking sites have now become important to reach out to the people. But it involves huge costs and we don’t have enough funds as of now. The last time we spent on social media advertisements was during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. May be we can do the same during the upcoming assembly polls,” said Amitabha Chakraborty, spokesperson of the Congress unit West Bengal.
