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Gimmicky Sloganeering ads for GE15 are out, some are original like Tawfik's while others are outright "chiplak" or copycat! #GE15
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright November 2022
This election will be best remembered as the beginning of an era where campaigning relies more on social media than "ceramahs" or face-to-face talks from one community to the next.
Campaigns have begun in earnest with social media designers burning the midnight oil striving to come up with catchy ads and slogans.
There are simple ones from people like Tawfik to more elaborate "copycat" ads from candidates like Saifuddin who uses video clips.
For Tawfik going for Bagan Datuk against the President of UMNO who brought upon us the Monsoon election, his ads are indeed simple.
He stands for Rakyat versus Rasuah.
Obviously, he represents the rakyat to fight against his rasuah-inflicted opponent who still has outstanding charges being deliberated in court.
The message is simple and direct, targeting the hearts and minds of voters. There's no ambiguity as to what he is out to achieve. He added: "vote for me and together we'll drive corruption out of Bagan Datuk."
Then there's a party that's out to satire others based upon their background and history hoping to dissuade voters.
For example, a thief on the run is placed against Barisan logo, a frog against Perikatan to symbolise those that switched parties and an old man with a walking stick against GTA obviously a satire about the nonagenarian leading that party.
In contrast, there is a poster that satires the former PH cabinet led by Tun Mahathir dwarfed by Lim Guan Eng who is larger than life in the background holding Ahmad Sabu in his arms.
This is circulating now to allude to the supposedly DAP-controlled cabinet during PH government and in a way reminding voters not to be swayed yet again by them.
Credit: @tenteratrollkebangsaan TikTok
On the other hand, another party has a voiced-over animation designed to guide voters to vote property when in the voting booth.
However, the illustration uses BN logo. There's a cross being drawn by a human hand with the voice-over telling the audience that it has to be done carefully to avoid it from being classified as a "spoilt" vote.
There's no mention of the party by name but the logo says it all. A subtle message to vote for the party in the illustration.
But the best illustration for our discussion on social media ads for this election campaign is a short video on Saifudin, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs. If the video doesn't load email us at mihardias@gmail.com and we'll forward to you. It's quite funny!
It has been edited to compare with a similar ad made for another Member of the Congress in the United States.
The purpose is to show that it is not genuine and may even be quickly dismissed by some voters as a lame copy of the original.
So a lesson that might be gained fron this brief survey is that while developing social media ads it's best to keep it genuine, simple, subtle and heartwarming or even funny!
But most of all be original.
Avoid copycat ads because it will make your candidate lose credibility in the eyes of voters.
We have more than a week left so let's see better ones coming on screen before polling day!
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