Tuesday, November 4
A real reason to vote?
A sign stuck in the median on a highway? In someone’s yard? Stacked up behind 75 other signs next to the sidewalk as you walk to the voting booth, (a hundred yards away from the actual door of course)?
I find it incredibly hard to believe anyone has ever made a decision on who to vote for based upon a sign they saw stuck in the ground. I would hope there would be a little more substance to the reason we vote for a candidate.
So if that’s the case…why the heck do we continue to make them, stick them in the ground and then leave them for weeks after the election? Besides, of course, that they bring great beauty to the landscape?
Seriously…have you, do you know of anyone in the history of time that has ever been influenced or persuaded by a candidates placard? (‘Placard’ is a fun word, isn’t it…)
Mark Nelson at 7:02 AM 4comments
4 Comments
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at 3:20 PM
Vince said... Actually, signs can and do often have an effect on who people will vote for.
Not so much in the major elections (President, Governor, etc...), but more often in the smaller elections (Sheriff, County Clerk, Treasurer).
When a person steps in the voting booth, they are first faced with the big ticket items such as voting for Obama or McCain (or writing in Mickey Mouse) in the Presidential election. Afterwards, they are hit with a ton of other things to vote on that most of the time, people weren't even aware that it was on the ballot. In these cases, if Joe Six-Pack happens to recall that him neighbor has a sign for "Jed Clampett for Dog Catcher" and he looks down the list, and sure enough "Jed Clampett" is listed, chances are he will vote for him based purely on name recognition.
Here's in article that will probably explain it better than I can.
http://www.cleveland.com/pdq/index.ssf/2008/10/winning_by_the_yard_campaign_s.html-
at 5:18 PM
ragamuffinminister said...
they have affected me for sure. i bite my tongue every time i see a yard display of assorted political decor.
oh, you mean as to how to vote. sorry, got nothing.-
at 2:27 PM
Cricket's Hero said...
I still think the most outrageous sign so far came from a church:
"Vote Christian. Vote American."
I got me to thinking so much that I pondered why I even vote in the first place. I wrote about it on my blog:
http://futurebreath.blogspot.com/
Tim-
at 8:28 PM
michaelCODY said...
As someone that has been in the advertising business for 12+years, it's basically subliminal advertising. You see/hear a name enough, it sticks with you. A lot of times people will go for something they are familiar with. That is the purpose. Just like kids enjoy bright colors; McDonald's strategically has always used red and yellow to capture kid's attention. They can't read but they know the logo and colors; so, it's what they go for.