VATICAN CITY (CNS): While political advertising can play on people’s fears or misrepresent candidates’ positions, the greatest ethical concern is how much money political advertising requires candidates to raise and spend, said Archbishop John P. Foley.
The president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said multi-million dollar campaigns such as that waged by New York’s new mayor, Michael Bloomberg, raised ethical questions.
The questions include: At what point does political campaign spending become excessive, and does the need to have money for advertising keep qualified candidates from running for office?
Archbishop Foley’s remarks about advertising were read in Bucharest, Romania, on November 30 at a conference on ethics and democracy sponsored by the New Europe Foundation.
The archbishop, who was unable to attend the conference because of illness, wrote to participants that the Catholic Church does not believe all advertising is morally problematic.
“I have said that the Catholic Church has been involved in advertising for 2000 years. We call it evangelisation. We truly believe in our ‘product’, in what we say, and we offer more than a lifetime guarantee,” he said.
Archbishop Foley said he personally knows and likes New York’s new mayor, but the fact that Mr Bloomberg reportedly spent between $50 million and $60 million on his campaign raises concerns.
