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Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Poster Campaign Research Sources
Essay 3
The
green party need a fresh advertising campaign to gain notoriety and awareness
about both their brand identity and the policies/beliefs of the political
party. This should be represented in a way that is adaptable into both a flyer
and a poster. The target audience which is the younger generation of voters
should be taken into consideration, in terms of design; while also
incorporating elements of the design that represent the core policies of the
green party. The campaign should also feature the relevant downfalls of the
leading opposition political parties in the past that contradict the green
party policies in a direct way.
The
campaign includes both posters and flyers, of which I believe both were
successful in meeting the criteria of the rationale. In terms of typography the
campaign features Bebas Neue throughout which ties in with the current branding
as well as being a modern typeface, keeping the design concise and focused
towards a younger design conscious audience; contrasting against the other
political campaigns which focus towards the older generation. I believe a
modernist look is what was needed due to the nature of the brief, to gain
notoriety and votes you want to aim to a younger market, especially with
policies that will end up effecting their future the most. This design
conscious visual aspect is reaffirmed by the use of a grid which has been
slightly broken giving each of the pieces a slightly off centre and unusual
look, making them something new and different to look at in contrast to its
counterparts.
The
downfalls of the competitive political parties were added in through the use of
small chronological timeline on each image, giving the date, information and
leading party in a simple concise way. This tells the audience the way in which
previous governments have slowly been making the green party come up with
further solutions in a non-aggressive light, as can be seen below in figure 1. Further telling the audience
their key concerns lie within sorting the issues. This issue is touched upon by
Kiousis & Stromback ‘Political public relations
should not be simply relegated to a technical or tactical function within
political organizations or campaigns, but rather be used to help advance the
political organization’s principal mission and broad objectives’
The
branding of the green party has also been tied together not only through the
use of typography, but also through colour, the plain gaps within the green
speech bubble stand out the most on the page. Therefore, projecting the
solution to the issue they have found in the foreground of the piece, this
makes the information easily accessible; telling the audience exactly what the
brand is about. Even though the text over it is in black due to the colouration
of the paper it makes the white space underneath stand out more, this is why
the campaign works both as a poster and flyer, in poster form it concisely and
quickly get across the information needed, but in flyer form it can be further
read into in further detail.
Each
of the pieces have a different hashtag, once again this is linking to the
pre-existing brand identity, although it has been taken out of its colour and
made simply monochrome making it stand out, and making it seem more accessible
to the audience to use on social media. The links to the very active social
media can be found in the top corner in which the logo has been changed to accord
with the visual identity of the logo.
Within
my first two investigations I was exploring the idea of political branding and
its importance in the political sphere as well as its link to commerce, from
both investigations I discovered the need for political branding and the way in
which a strong belief within a brand can influence a person to invest
themselves within that product whether that be a consumable or a Politian. The
green party are renowned for being ‘a wasted vote’ despite their positive
policies and concern for peoples wellbeing in the country, this may be due to
their lack of awareness. Personally I believe along with a strong brand identity
and advertising that has a sense of emotional link, which comes from its
placement; the party would politically become more successful. Therefore,
through the production of a campaign which does both promote the key policies
from the party whilst gaining awareness for the brand visual identity it would
boost the green party’s ability to gain more trust within the public as a
serious contender within politics. Strong branding is often needed to be
considered as a contender, as touched upon by Scammell, ‘The brand concept brings together
functionality and meaning; it incorporates the economic and the aesthetic, the
substance of reputation and the details of style’ (Scammell, 2015, p.11).
The
poster could be compared against the Brexit leave poster previously spoken about,
figure 2, in terms of it states a
simplistic statement of change as well as linking to the brand through the link
of colour. The Brexit poster proves how a simplistic visual arrangement can be
used to gain awareness and persuade, the information it contains it is not
true, but due to the strong visual elements such as bold type, strong visual
identity and a key slogan, people believed it. All of which are featured within
the design, yet there is the link of emotional branding, as the audiences emotions
will be evoked by the issues that they find dear to themselves; furthered by
the information about the times they had been further let down by past
governing bodies within the same subject matter.
Bibliography
Kiousis,
S., Stromback, J. and Strömbäck, J. (2011). Political public relations:
Principles and applications. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Group.
Scammell, M. (2015) Journal of Political Marketing. (14 Vols). Informa UK.
Essay 2
I have chosen these sources to
analyse throughout my essay as I am comparing the idea of politics borrowing
ideas from the world of commerce. Although visually different in terms of
audience, colour and style, the three images share similarities such as key
themes for example aiding change of the status quo and desire for luxury;
through visual technique. All sources evoke emotion from the audience to
persuade them to agree with the statements, thus showing a symbiotic
relationship between the two industries.
‘One of
the core desires that drive persuasion is the desire of people to feel special’
states Lakhani (Lakhani, 2008, p.139). This is evident in Figure 1, through the
presentation of the glamorous lifestyle of the model used. Glamour is depicted
within the image through the use of body language, the stance and prominence of
flesh resembles a balance between elegance and sexuality. Reaffirmed by the use
of fur and diamonds as props, the expense of the items conceptualises the
lifestyle that comes along with the purchasing of said advertised product.
Although all figures are aiming towards different demographics, within
different time periods, all three share the same ideal that by endorsing into a
particular product or idea you will be buying into a better lifestyle made
achievable by that product/idea. Handmacher’s women’s suit company created an
ad which was printed in Vogue 1954, which portrays a women standing out from
her male counterparts in her new Handmacher suit: ‘Her identity and ability to
be distinguished from men… are attributed wholly to the product’ (Lavin, 2002,
p.79). Through purchasing the product, the woman is enabling herself to stand
out, a trait desired by women in the workplace particularly during the 50’s
when women’s rights in the work place were substantially unequal, in terms of
advertising this was based towards a feminist audience; telling them that
consumerist activities would progress their role within the work place. ‘Advertisers
tend to exploit the fact that most people feel relative amount of discontent or
lack of self-confidence in certain elements of their own lives.’ (Staff, 2010,
p.42), therefore by purchasing the product advertised, you are achieving
further confidence and make yourself content. Explaining the way in which by
endorsing yourself into a product you are trying to gain access to that
particular lifestyle, or bring yourself one step closer to what can be seen as
a solution for whatever the issue may be. Similar in the way in which through
voting for Trump would aid the country in staying true to the definition of
being a nation (figure 3), and through voting leave (figure 2) you would be
aiding an injection of funds into the national health service; or so the
campaigns would have you believe. The use of text and visuals all promise
progression into a lifestyle or ideal that would be changing, and by endorsing
yourself into that product or idea you therefore are contributing to that
change; thus proving similarities in the worlds of consumerism and politics as
identified in my first essay.
‘Let’s
give our NHS the 350 million the EU takes every week.’ (figure 2), ‘We must
have a wall, the rule of law matters’ (figure 3) both sources describe
something that will happen, a statement of change. Using a statement to promise
an ideological world is a technique that the political sphere rely upon
heavily, as does the world of commerce. Without creating a promise to either
solve a problem, or enhance an experience, it deems anything relying on a brand
redundant. ‘Brands are often defined as the psychological representation of a
product or service or organisation, providing symbolic, rather than tangible
use-value to consumers.’ (Scammell, 2015, p. 12) this analogy of a brand
describes the need for the statement of change in order for a campaign to be
successful and further suggests that the content is symbolic rather than
realistic. The Chanel ad is in black and white; this depicts elegance,
reaffirmed by its simplistic design. Inspired by modernism, evident through the
Swiss design inspired typeface chosen, which is a movement entirely about
changing and moving away from tradition; and focusing on new ideas, therefore
by buying the product the customer is investing in new and fresh ideas. There is
a theme of change also seen in Figure 2, where the use of medical visuals tells
the audience that by agreeing with the content, in this case vote leave the EU
in the referendum, they will be improving health services. The use of visual
language to persuade the audience is also seen through the use of red, a colour
known for sending subliminal messages of ‘change’ and importance; therefore,
convincing the audience that agreeing to the content is for the best. Figure 3 also
uses similar visual language in terms of colour, although the sense of authority
here comes from the image, not solely the text. As the photo is taken from
below, it gives Trump an authoritative angle, therefore sending the audience
visual messages to agree with the statement at hand. The quote itself reveals
change, although it presents Trump’s ideology, it mentions “the nation”
therefore the audience will believe by agreeing to the statement, they would be
aiding change for the good of the nation. Once again, these visual links
between the sources show a manipulation of opinion through the use of
subliminal messaging. Moreover, the psychology behind these ideas, which
originated in branding and advertising, presenting the way in which the world
of politics borrows from the world of commerce - as touched on in my first
essay.
I hope
to have proven there is evidence of a symbiotic relationship between the two
industries, as the world of commerce introduced key techniques such as linking
desire for a better way of living to their products - which now can be found in
the political sphere. This craving for a better way of living, that may never
happen, after agreeing to the content of these often misleading advertisements
could deem these sources as propaganda. The influence from the world of
commerce has forced political branding to become as such– ‘The ubiquity is yet
another reason why this propaganda is rarely recognised as such: labelled
advertising’ (Rutherford, 2000, p.9). This can also be seen vice versa as
touched upon in my previous essay, therefore emphasising the reliance for these
two industries’ visual techniques on each other; in order to remain relevant
and successful.
Bibliography
Lakhani, D. (2008) Subliminal persuasion: Influence and
marketing secrets they don’t want you to know. Chichester, United Kingdom:
Wiley, John & Sons.
Lavin, M. (2002) Clean new world: Culture, politics, and graphic
design. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Rutherford, P. (2000) Endless propaganda: The advertising of
public goods. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Scammell, M. (2015) ‘Politics and image: The conceptual value of
Branding’, Journal of Political Marketing, 14(1-2), pp. 7–18. doi:
10.1080/15377857.2014.990829.
Staff, M.C.C. (2010) Sex and society. New York: Cavendish
Square Publishing.
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| Figure 1 |
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