Issue Advocacy Ads - Interest Advocacy

Interest Advocacy

Interest advocacy is act of making generalized communication regarding a public issue or problem without advocating voters to take a specific action at the election booth.

Identification of a pure "issue only ads" made by interest advocacy groups is difficult. Groups that sponsored messages needed to make it clear to a voter with reasonable intelligence, that the voter should cast their ballot in a manner the group wanted.

Keeping an advertisement issue only was important to groups like 501(c)(3) non-profits. Groups like this were subject to limits, or absolute prohibitions, on engaging in political activities. In 2006, the US Internal Revenue Service issued a fact sheet that stated groups could not endorse, make public statements for, contribute to, or distribute statements prepared by others, since it would be "political intervention". However, at the same time, organizations still could participate in non-partisan voter education efforts, including registration and get-out-the-vote drives and issue advocacy.