(Petersson, Djerf-Pierre, Strömbäck, & Weibull, 2006). These attitudes should be understood in relation to Swedish regulations of electoral advertising on television. TV ads were prohibited before the digitalization of terrestrial television in 2005, and political advertising was therefore not broadcast on major channels until the European parliament election 2009 and the Swedish general election 2010. The election in 2010 can be seen as the breakthrough for electoral advertising on television, since all major parties purchased airtime on the commercial channel TV4 during the last weeks of the campaign (Grusell & Nord, 2010). Even if there was a code of conduct between the broadcaster (TV4) and the political parties in the 2010 campaign, the legal regulations are few. The ads only have to observe the law, which mostly refers to criminal law and facts like incitement to racial hatred or violence. Further, there are no legal limitations for the amount of airtime possible to purchase in order to broadcast political advertising, and there is no announcement before or after the spot is aired. The spots are also broadcast in-between other commercials; there is no block where political ads are aired exclusively. All in all, due to these conditions TV viewers are rather caught by surprise and cannot easily avoid the spots. It is no exaggeration to argue that electoral advertising has changed the Swedish campaign culture. Results showed that exposure to TV ads during the European election campaign had a significant and positive effect on voter turnout (Dahlberg, 2010) and the political parties have changed their way of campaigning in relation to this new campaign channel (Grusell & Nord, 2009). The parties spent approximately two million Euros on producing and purchasing airtime for television ads in the 2010 campaign and 69 percent of the electorate watched at least one commercial during the 2010 campaign (Oscarsson & Holmberg, forthcoming). The corresponding figure during the European parliament campaign was 66 percent (Oscarsson & Holmberg, 2010, p. 26). An intense debate took off the last weeks of the campaign when TV4
(Petersson, Djerf-Pierre, Strömbäck, & Weibull, 2006). These attitudes should be understood in relation to Swedish regulations of electoral advertising on television. TV ads were prohibited before the digitalization of terrestrial television in 2005, and political advertising was therefore not broadcast on major channels until the European parliament election 2009 and the Swedish general election 2010. The election in 2010 can be seen as the breakthrough for electoral advertising on television, since all major parties purchased airtime on the commercial channel TV4 during the last weeks of the campaign (Grusell & Nord, 2010). Even if there was a code of conduct between the broadcaster (TV4) and the political parties in the 2010 campaign, the legal regulations are few. The ads only have to observe the law, which mostly refers to criminal law and facts like incitement to racial hatred or violence. Further, there are no legal limitations for the amount of airtime possible to purchase in order to broadcast political advertising, and there is no announcement before or after the spot is aired. The spots are also broadcast in-between other commercials; there is no block where political ads are aired exclusively. All in all, due to these conditions TV viewers are rather caught by surprise and cannot easily avoid the spots. It is no exaggeration to argue that electoral advertising has changed the Swedish campaign culture. Results showed that exposure to TV ads during the European election campaign had a significant and positive effect on voter turnout (Dahlberg, 2010) and the political parties have changed their way of campaigning in relation to this new campaign channel (Grusell & Nord, 2009). The parties spent approximately two million Euros on producing and purchasing airtime for television ads in the 2010 campaign and 69 percent of the electorate watched at least one commercial during the 2010 campaign (Oscarsson & Holmberg, forthcoming). The corresponding figure during the European parliament campaign was 66 percent (Oscarsson & Holmberg, 2010, p. 26). An intense debate took off the last weeks of the campaign when TV4
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