Advertising and State: analysis of the Spanish Government's Equality campaigns

Over the centuries, different forms of government have made use of multiple tools to publicize their interests, imposing them on those of the common people. This article, after a brief historical overview, reflects on the concept and limits of the model chosen by Western democracies: publicity. To this end, we shall begin by defining the term and delimiting it in relation to the practice whose comparison is most uncomfortable: propaganda. After that, and approaching the Spanish case, we will get to know the regulatory framework: Law 29/2005, of December 29, 2005, on Institutional Advertising and Communication. As the core of this study, we propose the analysis of the Equality campaigns promoted by the Spanish Government within the ministries and secretariats of State with competences to that effect between 2005 and 2022. We will conclude with the demonstration of certain partisan practices, improper of this type of publicity, and with a reflection on the risks to which such a procedure exposes our democratic system.