Party Pin-Ups

WHILE on my travels yesterday I noticed something which made me think: "Yep, it's election time..."

The said object was a board planted in a front garden saying "Vote Conservative".A few hours later I spotted a few window posters urging me to vote Labour.

It's always struck me as a weird thing to do, especially as anyone who sees it is likely to go and do exactly the opposite. But being a political anorak, I also like them because they add a sense of anticipation in the run-up to polling day.

My psychologist friend had a field day in working out what sort of person - especially in this usually so reserved country of ours - wants to deliberately make their home stick out like a sore thumb.

They concluded that the person was either:
a) Up for election themselves
b) The candidate's mum
c) An upper class eccentric
d) Of American extraction

I must admit, it's always struck me as a kind of old-fashioned way to gather support, especially as parties are much more media-savvy than they were in, say, the 1950s.

The famous Saatchi 'Labour isn't Working' poster from the 1979 general election is generally seen as a classic. Indeed that election is widely regarding as the one in which we adopted a more American-style approach to political campaigning.

Nowadays, we're a bit more immune to the messages but some poster campaigns still catch the eye.
Labour's Wiggy poster from 2001 - depicting William Hague as a Thatcher clone - was a pretty smart move but their 2005 'flying pigs' poster with Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin was a disaster after being branded anti-semitic.

The trouble is that everything is 'a brand' now and in an over-crowded market place, there's a fine balance between trying to be clever and complete confusing your audience.

The Conservatives' ditching of the Torch of Freedom for a green tree was controversial but it seems to have worked. Not seen the new logos on their election boards though...

So it may be old-fashioned, but does a simple "Vote XXXXXXXX" poster still have the desired effect? Are you persuaded to vote by seeing these things displayed from homes around town?

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