DeKALB | Campaign advertisements, seen by some as an annoyance whether they’re crowding suburban lawns or television commercial space, are a necessary evil, said Matthew Streb, assistant professor of political science.

These advertisements come with a hefty price tag. According to opensecrets.org, Democrat Melissa Bean has raised $3.5 million in her District Eight congressional campaign. Her opponent, Republican David McSweeney, has run a campaign costing just under $4 million. In Illinois’ 2002 election for governor, Rod Blagojevich raised over $23.8 million.

But some debate just how effective these political advertising strategies are.

“It all depends on what the office is,” Streb said. “For lower-level offices, yard signs are important because they really are the only introduction people have to the candidates.”

Mikel Wyckoff, associate professor of political science gave a different opinion.

“I think the purpose of lawn signs and that kind of overt local campaigning is primarily to get people’s attention; get people thinking about politics,” said Wyckoff.

Junior Josh Kawka and sophomore Alex Hartung — both engineering majors — said they did not care about the signs but agreed on their simplistic effectiveness.

“It sticks in your head,” Hartung said.

“I guess if you see his name and if you don’t know either guy [on the ballot], you might put down his name,” Kawka said.

The yard signs, which generally state the candidate’s name and the office they are running for, are not as popular for the gubernatorial or congressional races as they are for smaller local offices.

“They are less important for, say, the president or even in Congress,” Streb said. “Yard signs are not quite important but television advertising is extremely important.”

Campaign advertisements attacking a candidate’s opponent have flooded television stations and only promise to increase in volume as election day nears.

“They should spend more time saying what they’re going to do instead of what the other guy’s not going to do,” said junior engineering major Vince Maverick.

“I think it’s going away from their point and trying to stay away from their [own] negative points,” said freshman finance major Thomas Mamoottile.

Whatever constituent opinion may be on these commercials, Streb argues they may be more effective than voters think.

“Those ads are extremely important because they convey information to the voters that they otherwise might not have,” said Streb. “People hate attack ads but, unfortunately, they work. There’s a lot of empirical evidence that says they are more likely to vote against someone than vote for someone.”

Professor Wyckoff talks about how effective they can be, especially if an opponent does not respond, but also claims that this year might be different.

“This year, I think there’s some large national issues that people are thinking about that are probably dominating their decisions, and negative ads at the last minute will probably have marginal effects,” said Wyckoff.