PHOTO: Whose Poster Will Lead To Victory?

An expert of visual political communication compared electoral posters for Javno portal and stated that HDZ is graphically the strongest.

Croatia is slowly starting to catch the election fever. Tensions between the parties are stronger and stronger every day, and television shows are full of prognostications and researches. The first posters also started to appear. Although they will soon flood motorways, roads and side-tracks, here we report you the first electoral posters placed around Zagreb.

We asked a visual political communications expert from Croatian Studies, Professor Zlatan Gelb, in what degree this form of electoral marketing can actually effect the citizens’  final result and whether these posters actually engrave the citizens’ subconscious.

‘Messages NO TAXES and NO DRUG LEGALIZATION are effective’

- It is difficult for whatever poster to bring a remarkable predominance at the elections, but it is a way to introduce the party teams, electorates or programmes – Gelb said, and added that, ahead of these elections, the concentration of electoral posters will be much higher, because the parties will need ‘all the resources in this dead race’.

Analyzing HDZ’s (Croatian Democratic Union) poster, Gelb said that it is graphically strong because two colours, red and blue, with a strong effect on visual perception are used.

- White coloured letters, in contrast with red and blue, highlight the message conveyed by the poster – is the theory of the academic cameraman and teacher of visual communication. He said that HDZ chose a simple letter font which will also avoid to distract the watchers’ attention from the poster’s message.

- Messages like NO TAXES and NO DRUG LEGALIZATION are effective, because, when people hear tax, they see a picture of a hand putting money in the pocket – Gelb explained

Gelb: Do two people make a team?

On the other hand, SDP’s (Social Democratic Party) electoral poster, according to Gelb, does not visually match.

- The poster’s main actors are Zoran Milanovic and Ljubo Jurcic, and the message is ‘People are a team’. But, can a team be made by two people? – Gelb asked. He explained that SDP should add some other people so that the picture would be in line with the message.

Talking about Milanovic’s and Jurcic’s ‘pose’, Gelb said that the two social-democrats look like ‘Siamese twins’.

- One has his left hand in the air, and the other one his right. I would not be surprised if someone adds glasses in their hands – the political communication expert said. Galeb found the colour in the background of SDP’s poster pleasant, but the posters lacks in a well definition of the two social-democrats.

He ended saying that however HDZ’s poster could have a stronger effect on the voters due to its simplicity.

Comparing the posters from the electoral campaign in 2003, when HDZ started being criticized by SDP like now, Gelb marked the possibility that they chose, in this campaign, the same direction that lead them to victory in the last elections.  

- HDZ’s 2003 slogan LET US MOVE CROATIA, was definitely better because it was based on the movement, the motion, while SDP’s short sentence YES FOR SDP was static – Gelb explained, reporting and analogy with Hitler who inverted the swastika sign to stress dynamism and movement.

SEE ELECTORAL POSTERS HERE.