Government advertising and the war on drugs: the narrative proposed by the Mexican Federal Government (2006-2012)

Abstract

This academic article is based on the results obtained from doctoral research defended in May of 2016 , with the title: "Government advertising in the construction of cultures of peace: the case of the Mexican Federal Government (2006-2012) in the framework of the war on drugs", which highlights the potential of government advertising for the promotion of values, behaviors and actions that build collective well-being. The research analyzes qualitatively 127 T.V. spots issued by different Departments of the Mexican Republic during the six-year presidential term of Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, to unveil that the Mexican government, instead of using its advertising efforts to contribute to the pacification of the country, used this communicative tool to legitimize its strategy of facing drug trafficking through an armed approach. Throughout the messages presented in the T.V. spots, a clearly differentiated story between "good" and "bad" people is described, using the threat of drugs as the axis of its persuasive strategy and transmitting a culture of fear that generates more concerns and insecurities than the values needed to counteract violence. At the same time, the promotion of cultures of peace in the story offered by the Mexican Federal Government is minimal and circumstantial, from what it can be affirmed that it does not offer keys to understand and transform the conflict, but a narrative that reinforces the war on drugs and legitimizes it.