Archive
You are here > Home / Smalltalk / Light fodder / Election 08: Voting on Vandalism
Election 08: Voting on Vandalism
No matter where you live in this fine country, over the last couple of months you would have no doubt passed sign after sign shamelessly asking for your vote. The slogans are now engrained in our subconscious. The photoshopped faces sit strong in our mind. And for some of us, we still have no idea who to vote for. It seems like in the lead-up to each time we head to the ballot, our opinion has never been as valued. We’ve never been a so popular people. Everyone wants our two ticks.
A couple of days out from the 2008 Election, we decided to drive around Wellington city to assess how things are looking for each party come Saturday, purely on the state of their signage. It could be argued that the voice of the people comes through strongest with graffiti and vandalism, so let’s see how the contenders stack up.
Labour
Nine billboards
It’s no secret that Wellington predominately looks at the country through red-coloured glasses, with Labour MP’s Marian Hobbs and Annette King holding the fort for Wellington Central and Rongotai respectively over the past three years. It’s no surprise, then, that all but one of their billboards had been defaced, by ripping a big chunk out of it.
National
Nine billboards
National equals Labour’s billboard count and is quite obviously keeping a close eye on things. Where large billboards have been torn down, they’ve replaced them with two or three small signs calling for voters to “Choose a Brighter Future”. Maybe the new message is a kind suggestion to the not-so-bright public who removed the previous one?
Greens
Ten billboards
With arguably the most effective billboard campaign out of all the parties, the Greens also surprisingly beat both Labour and National in the number stakes. In saying that, we’re not really sure that signs that now sit face down on the grass count. Or ones that are torn apart. Or ones abused with a permanent marker. It seems some people like the campaign so much they just can’t help but add to it.
United Future
Five billboards
With the least amount of advertising out of the major-ish parties (that is, the ones we’re bothered enough to talk about), United Future also boast the worst ratio of vandalism. Only two out of their five billboards were untouched, with the other three either taking a rest on the grass, featuring Peter Dunne with whiskers or a cruel combination of both.
Act
Seven billboards
Act is known for it’s hard-line views on crime, which in six out of seven billboards worked a treat. They are as pristine-looking as they day they were erected. However, in the most extreme case of destruction we saw on our travels, one of their billboards was entirely ripped apart, except for the now wonderfully ironic banner at the top which read “Zero Tolerance for Crime”.
Quick Mentions
Progressive, four billboards: Predominantly untouched, except one slight puncture through Jim Anderton’s hand.
Libertarian, three billboards: Completely unaffected by the not-so-bright.
Kiwi party, three billboards: Really, who can bring themselves to deface our national icon?
Maori party, two billboards: One instance of bigoted and fruitless graffiti.
Alliance, two billboards: Heeding some advice from United Future, they both were taking a rest on the grass.
NZ First, no billboards: Either their campaign was so bad that they’ve been utterly wiped of the Wellington landscape, or Winston didn’t really have time to come up some new ideas.
Elliot Taylor
Elliot can't decide what he likes more: sleep or food. Put a mic in his hand and he will forget about both. When awake, he juggles Soul Purpose, pens, and hopes to one day change the world.
Have your say!
What happens next? What do you think should happen? Let us know your thoughts. Remember, all comments are moderated. Have fun!
Comments RSS feed
Wow. You’d think people would try to find a better avenue to make their voice known, rather than destructing property.
Posted at 12:19 pm on December 3rd, 2008.hah all I wanna know is how many votes the Bill and Ben party got…I’d so vote for them…lol
Posted at 5:38 pm on December 11th, 2008.