I woke up this morning to find this monstrosity cable-tied to the telegraph pole outside our front gate:
Now, while I’m sure there’s a large portion of the Irish electorate who’d love to see the heads of certain Irish politician’s on a pole, I don’t think this is quite what they had in mind!
I’m sure Cllr. Adrian Healy is a lovely man… but do I really want to look at him every morning while waiting to deposit the munchkins on the school bus? I don’t think so! Incidentally, this poster wasn’t up when I went to bed past midnight last night (I know, because I had to pop out to the car for something), it was surreptitiously positioned in the dead of night by the election poster wraiths.
These ethereal creatures of the darkness are mercifully scarce, but the population explodes rapidly pre-election, and left unchecked can quickly reach plague proportions. Sneaker than a malevolent super-sleuth, they could certainly teach the CIA or MI6 a thing or two about moving around undetected. They’re practically invisible: we only know they exist at all because of the conspicuous trail of unflattering mugshots they leave in their wake to torture the general population.
Stop polluting our countryside with poster politics and start tackling the issues!
POLITICIANS: you’re not that pretty!
Stop trying to win our votes with banal posters and start tackling the issues — show us what you believe in, what you stand for, and what you’re going to do for our community if you want our votes.
All these posters do is sully the view, generally annoy the electorate and add to Ireland’s growing waste mountain.
See some sense… please!
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I don’t agree with you. Posters are part of elections. It’s hard enough to generate awareness. There’s no dichotomy between postering and tackling issues.
Hi Fergus,
Thanks for commenting.
Just because posters ARE a part of elections, doesn’t necessarily mean that they SHOULD be part of elections. Raising awareness is also a fundamental part of marketing my small business, but I don’t resort to plastering my message all over the poles of Co. Cork. I’m sure that if I did those same politicians who gaze down on us from those posters would come down on me like the proverbial tonne of bricks.
Although I haven’t seen any definitive empirical study on this (if anyone could point one out that would be great), anecdotal evidence suggests very strongly that you’re in the minority here. I think most people are fed-up to the back teeth with politicians in general… and with poster campaigns in particular. I know I am. The posters are distracting for all the wrong reasons — they don’t so much raise awareness as raise public resentment, at least among the people I talk to.
I’m of the opinion, as I’m sure a lot of other people are, that the money and resources invested in producing these eyesores could be better spent elsewhere — and that’s before you even take into account the environmental cost of their production, distribution and disposal.
Posters are an eyesore full stop. They are badly taken photos of unknowns.
The best method is the door to door meeting – if they call say hello that is good. It is also not environmentally friendly on top of the bucket of leaflets generated from all the parties.
They need to think of better ways of doing this. Picture text messages? TVs with ad in local supermarkets? Stand outside the supermarket for an hour.
They are also a danger to traffic especially on roundabouts.
Hi Kieran,
Thanks for stopping by.
It gets worse… you’d think all the posters and leaflets were at least keeping local printers in jobs… but not a bit of it. I was talking to our local printer the other day, and asked if he was busy with the surge of election work. I was gobsmacked when he told me that the our major political parties outsource all of their printing to Northern Ireland, Wales and even Poland. He said the only political printing he does is for the local town council and the odd independent candidate.
Unbelievable… but would you expect anything less in Irish politics today?
These posters make me sick, your last comment makes me sicker, but yes i heard about the out-sourcing also last week. What a joke. At least Damien managed to find one election poster i do REALLY like :
http://www.mulley.net/2009/05/07/taken-in-tipperary-yesterday/
I suspect that the reason the poster went up in the dead on night is a combination of two facts:
(a) erecting posters before midnight on Tuesday (going into Wednesday) was a breach of the litter laws — the exemption for election posters kicked in then
(b) competition to get posters up on prime sites and routes quickly
I let the junk mail build up over a couple of weeks and when I went to dump it found that over half of it was electioneering rubbish that I would never have read.
So far I haven’t actually been canvassed in person. I think the last time I was canvassed was about ten years ago.
Michele
@Joe That poster on Damien’s blog is priceless!
@tipster Ah… that spoils the illusion! I liked the theory that an army of ethereal nocturnal creatures were surreptitiously plastering these notices all over the countryside!
@Michele I was about to post a reply saying ditto, when a politician actually called to the door. So they actually do still go door-to-door. And no, they’re no better looking in the flesh
.
That pre-midnight litter law ‘thingy’ does’nt apply to FF – at least not the Clonakilty ones. I was driving from Glandore towards Skibbereen on Tuesday evening (think around 7-8ish) and the invisibles had already been up the poles!
Personally i think the only thing they’re good for is paintball practice!