Oh God! not that Political Banners!
It is widely known that campaigning through banners is Indonesia's most popular type of campaign. I believe most people might have wondered, why there are a lot of banners as politicians’ campaign tools, mostly in Indonesia which will be having a presidential election in early 2024. Political campaign banners are visual communication tools used by political campaigns and organizations to support and supplement political activities. The use of banners has become a hallmark of the country's political discourse, attracting public attention and generating widespread curiosity through the appealing appearance of the banner itself. This method is not only visually appealing but also in its accessibility since the banners will be put on the side of busy roads, so the marketers expect the audience or civilians to be exact, would pay attention to the banner and the politician that is being campaigned to be recognised. Despite the positivity of campaigning through banners, there is a lot of negativity caused by this political method. So that is why, campaigning through banners should be prohibited.
Banning banners to be used as a political campaign would be the best decision that the government could have made. A busy road is a perfect place to hang political banners, but this act would likely lead to fatal accidents. Even though accidents caused by political banners are rare, these could also happen due to various reasons. First, political banners that are put on a busy road could break the driver’s concentration way on the road. To attract the public's attention, politicians use their creativity to make themselves and their banners not only interesting but also delicate, to increase their visibility. As a result, political banners are often designed to be vibrant, eye-catching, and visually appealing, which can distract drivers from the road and interrupt their ability to concentrate. Second, some people believe that political banners could cause visual pollution that contributes to the clutter of public spaces. According to Mekonnen N. (2018), visual pollution is the uncontrolled and uncoordinated accumulation of various colours, shapes, lights and materials, heterogeneous visual elements, ugly and unattractive artificial spaces, and urban landscapes. The large presence of these colourful banners can reduce the visual appeal of urban landscapes, transforming the once magnificent side of the town into the most political yet seedy and hideous side of the town. Not only could damage the aesthetical subject of the town, but it also has the potential to produce an unpleasant living experience for the civilians. Third, political banners can affect people’s health condition, a study in Dhaka reported that 24.37 per cent of people suffer from eye fatigue, 18.72 per cent from over-stimulated nervous system, 18.03 per cent from insomnia and 12.21 per cent from headaches among other issues. In this case, alongside human beings, animals are also affected by visual pollution as their eating and sleeping habits are disrupted by banners. Fourth, the environmental Impact of political banners. These political banners were made only for a short-term time yet donated to long-term environmental issues since these banners are predominantly made of non-biodegradable materials such as plastics which will take 20 to 500 years to decompose. Since banners have a long-term environmental effect, I reckon politicians should not use banners to promote themself, instead, they can conduct campaigns in a more environmentally friendly manner. The green political movement emphasizes promoting environmental sustainability and provides politicians with the opportunity to improve their image by raising awareness of pressing environmental issues. Eco-friendly political campaigns focus on promoting environmental sustainability, such as, that politicians could promote themself through sharing awareness about the environment. Not only that, hosting an environmentally friendly or sustainable event could also have a positive impact not only on the world but also on the politicians themselves. Furthermore, the impact of such activities extends beyond individual perceptions. Politicians have the opportunity to inspire and inform citizens, thereby promoting a sense of collective responsibility for the environment
Informing voters about the electoral programme, making a candidate known, showing campaign strength to voters, showing campaign strength to the opposition, mobilising activists, mobilising regular voters, convincing undecided voters, and convincing leaning voters are the reasons why parties hang political banners (Dumitrescu, 2012). While banners can be effective in attracting attention, there is also suspicion that political banners focus on image over substance, leading to a superficial understanding of politics. Since politicians would make their banners as creative as possible, the percentage of winning the election would be higher, yet this would make civilians more focused on the aesthetic of the banners rather than the vision and mission of the candidate. Second, the placement of banners. When banners are put on every side of the road or in densely populated areas, the audience or the people would not feel sympathetic to the banner. People may find the constant bombardment of political messages to be visually intrusive and disruptive, affecting their overall experience in public spaces. As banners become pervasive, people may no longer remember the content of individual campaigns, diluting the impact of the intended message. The result of overexposing political banners could also lead to mass anger which could cause them to end up not choosing the politician that was being campaigned and the benefit of the banners which initially wanted to convey a political message perished. Last, the cost of banners. As we know, if politicians want to campaign through banners, they have to print a lot of banners to be put on every side of the town. This act would cost a lot of money, not only do they have to pay the print payment, but they also have to pay the permit to the government to hang their political banners around the town or even the country. This is the reason why campaigning through banners should be banned since there are politicians who come from working-class families whose printing campaigning banners could be something that prevents them from running as political candidates due to lack of funds. Apart from that, political candidates from working-class families who do not put up banners will lose to other political candidates who display their political campaign banners throughout the city. These prove that the overexposing of the banners reduces the impact of the banners themselves.
Relying exclusively on banners can be an extremely effective way to promote politicians for several reasons. As said by Vincent Raynauld (2021), an affiliate professor of communication studies at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières “Election signs still have a great appeal, especially for voters who are shifting away from text-based communication.” But, what about the other campaign method? Are the other campaigning methods no better than campaigning through banners? The answer would be yes. There are a lot of other campaign methods which are more effective and relevant to these modern days such as campaigning through social media, podcasting, and holding webinars could be the most influential campaign method. First, social media will be the best option because almost everyone uses social media in this era. Campaigning through social media is the best choice because the accessibility of campaign ads is easy, and through online media, campaign information will be easily disseminated. Second, through podcasts that can be accessed anywhere and anytime, the public will be more focused and informed about whether a legislative candidate is worthy of their vote. The third option is to organize webinars. By conveying aspirations and hopes if elected, a politician will be able to convince the public by interacting directly, discussing current issues, and answering audience questions. Despite the effectiveness of this method, people also think that campaigning through banners could engage people to vote. A study by Panagopoulos C. (2009) shows that the observed turnout rate in the 14 poll site locations included in the treatment group was 36.8 per cent, compared to a turnout rate of 33.2 per cent for sites located in the control group, this means campaign banners may be competitive with other get-out-the-vote tactics in terms of effectiveness. However, The passive nature of event banners may not increase the level of engagement needed to promote informed and active citizen participation. Unlike interactive methods such as social media campaigns, podcasts, or webinars, banners provide limited opportunities for voters to gain insight into a candidate’s policies and positions or engage in direct dialogue.
Direct dialogue is important in order to make politicians get able to know the environment that they will lead if they get elected. Politicians who use this strategy have the ability to influence public opinion and voters because people are influenced and have their viewpoints shaped by candidates' dedication to the welfare of the electorate. Therefore by this method, people are more inclined to actively engage in the democratic process, which boosts voter turnout for the sake of the nation and makes people feel like they have a personal connection to politician candidates.
Considering all of this, though campaigning through banners is considered the most effective way of campaigning by the public and politicians, the evidence of the negative impacts of banners overwhelmingly suggests that this type of campaign should be banned. Campaigning through banners should be illegal to prevent environmental problems caused by the waste of uncountable banners and to prevent any problems that could come up in the community. Also, reading through this essay, campaigning through banners is not the best option if politicians want to campaign for themself in these modern days. Instead of doing that, campaigning through social media, podcasts, and holding webinars could be the best options if politicians want to gain more votes.
SOURCES
Dumitrescu, D. (2012).The importance of being present: Election posters as signals of electoral strength, evidence from France and Belgium. Article in Party Politics, 18(6), 947.
Mekonnen, N. (2018). Visual pollution, Illustrating The impact of Advert boards and signage posters on the urban landscape In the case of Dessie city, 36.
New Age. (2023). Billboards Lead To Visual Pollution. Retrieved from https://www.newagebd.net/article/194297/billboards-lead-to-visual-pollution
Panagopoulos, C. (2009). Street fight: The impact of a street sign campaign on voter turnout, 331.
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