Another day, another poster.
This latest effort is part of a new guerrilla campaign by the Liberal Democrats, aiming to take advantage of these politically disillusioned times and position the third party as the only real alternative.
It’s not just a poster, either. There is a whole Labservative website (with, perhaps, a touch of sour grapes — “Of course, we don’t need a campaign at all — after 13 consecutive general election victories we can be forgiven a smidgen of complacency”), asking voters why they support “the party of the status quo”, and featuring the Labservative leader, Gorvid Camerown.
A slightly tongue-in-cheek, off-centre approach is a welcome addition to the election campaign, and appears to show a greater understanding of new media than the recent, disastrous attempts by the Conservatives. It’s about engaging the electorate rather than hammering home the same message with a slick site (cf: Cash Gordon). The Guardian quotes Shaun McIlrath, executive creative director at the advertising company behind the campaign, as saying: “It shouldn’t be about patronising an already cynical audience.”
Will it be a viral sensation? And, more importantly, will this translate into votes? It seems unlikely at the moment that party politics could capture the popular imagination, but, in what we are ceaselessly being told is the first internet election, it will be interesting to watch how this gimmick is received.
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