Election Posters? Yes or No?

Elections usually come with a small discussion about election posters. At every election a vast amount of “Vote Me! Vote Me!” posters with the faces of the numerous candidates are put up on lamp posts and bridges all over the country. But it is not certain, possibly even doubtful, if the posters have any positive effect on voters. Many think that they are just totally ineffective and do not influence voters at all.

The rules around election posters are very strict. They are only allowed to be on display from a clearly specified date before the elections (max 30 days) and until 1 week after the election. If posters are up too early or didn’t get removed in time, they are considered as litter and the party will get fined for each poster that has been found. But even with all these rules, many think posters should be forbidden completely.

And then a Referendum comes along that doesn’t just bring mugshots of wannabe politicians onto the posters, but instead shows foetuses, pregnancy bellies with painted babies on them and other graphic posters by the NO side with all sorts of dramatic and seemingly not always truthful warnings. The YES side on the other hand might be accused of too much simplifying the options. And since we know that this is a hugely emotional disagreement between YES and NO and that it is highly unlikely that the posters will change someone’s opinions, I am totally in favour of forbidding all election and referendum posters in future.

Keep the lampposts free from litter and save the money for better uses!