Poster boys

We're not officially in an election campaign. But we're in that interesting period, just as we were at this time in 1992, where we know there is only a limited amount of time left. The election has to happen by June 2010. And so, since Christmas the parties have effectively been fighting the first rounds in an election campaign. It is unlikely to go on at this kind of intensity, but so far all three party leaders have struck blows which must have encouraged them. The polls look good for David Cameron, although still not consistent enough to ensure him an overall majority, while Nick Clegg has actually got some decent media attention for his recent pronouncements (always difficult for the third party leader) and Gordon Brown is on fighting form in recent Prime Minister's Questions - he certainly isn't acting like a man who has given up.

So, if this is an election campaign in all but name, we can expect more and more giant billboard posters to go up in the next few weeks. Even in the age of Broadband and Twitter - and this will be the first election fought with those technologies at the parties' disposal - a giant two-dimensional image is still, it seems, thought to be an effective way of getting one's message over to the public.

Memorable election posters from previous decades immediately spring to mind - a classic Conservative poster forever associated with the Winter of Discontent and Callaghan's "Crisis? What Crisis?" (which he didn't actually say), and an ultimately ineffective campaign hinting that Tony Blair was not all he seemed. Some played on old fears while others showed commendable optimism...

These days, of course, new technology can be used to play with the images the parties come up with. The voters won't sit still and take the message in one direction - they're going to have a little fun with it. I think we can expect a bit more of this kind of thing over the next few weeks. In its own way, this very Tens (Teenies? Tweenies?) satire is yet another channel of communication between politicians and the people.