Political text messages sent to personal devices during election campaigns are “vote killers” for Australians who find them intrusive but are unable to opt out.
Voters across the country have already received political communications straight to their phones, as parties try to cut through the noise and gain an edge in spreading their message.
Many of the messages have come from the Trumpet of Patriots, backed by mining magnate Clive Palmer.
Political analyst Kos Samaras said campaign texts were not at all effective.
“It’s basically probably one of the quickest ways you can send a message to people that you are impersonal, that you lack the capacity to speak to them at a face-to-face level,” he told AAP.
Trumpet of Patriots’ tactics may not be having the desired effect. Source: Getty
“(It) lacks an understanding that people’s mobile phones are quite a personal item, and people find intrusion quite annoying.”
Mr Samaras said most parties were yet to check if the tactic worked.
“It annoys voters, turns voters off, and for some reason, political parties just near the end of a campaign want to grab onto anything they can use to get a last-minute message out,” he said.
“In reality, we are in the stage of the campaign now where the train is relatively on, heading towards the station, and it won’t be diverted.”
Mr Samaras said the texts forced voters to deal with their messaging but that people would not react in a positive way.
“It is an absolute waste of money, an absolute waste of time, and a vote killer,” he said.