Political Posters - Lib Dems, Labour and Tory - Part 3

• The Tories - "Clumsy Brown"

The Tories proudly launched this one with the announcement of NI reduction. Two giant boots about to crush the first shoots of recovery by taxing jobs, yet another tax on those who have been prudent, unlike Gordon Brown, as he stumps on the first signs of hope we've seen in months and months.

More doom and gloom from the Tories, who would have thought it. Pushing this angle seems to be about making Labour look like the tax raisers. A good tactic, as no one wants to pay more tax, in that respect it gets their message across.

• The Tories - "I took everything from you voter"
  

One of a series of smug smiling Gordon posters, were he states he took your pensions, caused record youth unemployment, doubled national debt and increased the gap between rich and poor. Thanks Gordon, that will look great on your CV.

I like these posters, very direct, non apologetic and to the point. Great way to use a political poster.

• Lib Dems - "The atomic bomb of tax"

This poster looks familiar. Parodying posters can work well if drawing parallels. The original poster was from the 1992 general election, an interesting link being made there. Given Major was trying to get elected in the context of a bitter recession brought on by a housing bubble and burdened by an unpopular predecessor, some would say evil predecessor. Labour, led by Neil Kinnock, was largely back in the mainstream, after being in the wilderness for years and were doing well in the polls, until the "we're alright" incident. Of course unless you are a political geek, this isn't what will spring to mind, "duck and cover" will be the lingering thought as you throw your self to the ground.

This just feels like the Lib Dems jumping on the negative bandwagon. It also feels lazy. The poster isn't iconic enough to really make the link and it goes against the grain of the message they're carving out below.

• Lib Dems - "Labservative"

This is a quirky animation and an interesting line from the Lib Dems. Labour and Tories are one and the same, even branding them "Labservative", which though a bit gimmicky, is a good way of expressing this point easily. It also turns the tables on the comment echoed frequently, that a vote for Lib Dems is a wasted vote, by saying you are wasting your vote for the status quo. I like it very much, a strong message well conveyed.

• Labour - "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky"

Labour did an on-line campaign for supporters to come up with a poster, dubbing it the "peoples poster". Which was a great idea to get their core voters involved and utilised the internet. Though it ended up very partisan, and an own goal when the Tories started tic for tac. As the chosen poster isn't very strong, it doesn't make Cameron look bad. It's like dressing him as Adam Ant and saying, "don't take us back to the 80s". Though their are some that would get on their knees and pray that 80s music doesn't make a come back, along with poodle perms. Most would remiss with watering eyes, while raising their arms in the air one at a time, humming "prince charming, prince charming". A wasted opportunity and we do have to be-careful of copyright, don't we Gordon?