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Cartoon Campaigning – Cut It Out

Elections fever has been in full swing, it’s almost inescapable. Posters, Facebook pages, hashtags, sweets, lecture shout outs and door knocking.

Altogether, campus has been swamped with the Executive Elections candidates.

There is a real buzz throughout Loughborough for elections period, a buzz which adds a new life to the place.

Every year each candidate uses a theme to base their campaign around; they’re memorable, funny and colourful, all of which are vital in getting across a candidate’s personality to everyone who they don’t get the chance to talk to face to face.

Hang on, let’s cut out the nonsense.

Each candidate chooses a theme which is basically a pun on their name and if there’s no pun, they invariably go with superman.

Why on earth would anyone want a bunny as their next VP Education or a pirate in charge of their finances? It’s ludicrous.

In Becky Lauder-Fletcher and Zak Evans, we have two strong candidates whose quality of manifesto points are extremely high and each seem very capable to perform the role.

In fact, we could say the same about the majority of the candidates who each have a silly theme.

Why the nonsense?

Don’t get me wrong, I do have massive respect for anyone who manages to actually come up with something genuinely witty or which at least has something to do with what they’re going for. Thankfully there are a few this year which have managed to be funny or relevant.

Sam Hampson said that he wants these elections to be fun. I agree. Making each candidate beat you at Fifa before they earn your vote is a quality idea. I just also wish that we would stop being patronised as voters, thinking that we’ll only remember someone if they’re dressed as a cartoon.

I guarantee one thing though. If you do manage to beat me at Fifa then I am much more likely to remember you over some other candidate dressed as an elf.

Will anyone ever be bold enough to run without a theme in future years?

AJ Young

AJ Young

Columnist
AJ is a former Chair of William Morris Hall.
AJ Young

@ayoung_AJ

Social Psychology Student at Loughborough. sometimes some people just need a high five... in the face... with a chair...
Posted by on February 24, 2013. Filed under AJ Young,Columnists,Elections.
  • Holly

    Chris Mckenna’s been bold enough to run without a theme…

  • Jack

    Chris McKenna is missing a theme, the plot and his dignity.

  • Everyone

    Vote McKenna! #freecarrots

  • Matt

    The whole point of campaigning is to make the students understand who you are and what you stand for. The idea that you need a slogan is so firmly placed in students minds that it becomes the focus with some candidates not running because they can’t think of a witty enough pun. As soon as this happens the whole elections process turns into a farce of spamming social media sites in a glorified popularity contest.

    With the budget constraints this year there has been a reduction in the “Here’s a sweet, vote for me” behavior but there is still too much emphasis on who to vote for and not WHY to vote for them. Just because they are the only candidate does not mean they are the best. Would people be voting for Chris McKenna if he was running uncontested?

  • Andy

    I think last year, Ellie Read ran with apple’s ‘I Believe’ campaign, this was not a pun and was a serious campaign and won against an Aladdin themed campaign. But what’s wrong with having cartoony candidates? We would have lower voters as the campaigns would be more ‘uninteresting’. and therefore the student body wouldn’t be fully represented, as it would become a pure popularity contest, instead of a popularity contest alongside a bit of engaging campaigns.

    Don’t try to fix somthing that’s not broken.

  • Dave

    Supermaz is a pun on Superman.
    Epinal, get your facts right.
    ***I am not on Supermaz’s campaign team***