Posters and Election Propaganda

Iraqi politicians have embraced American political methods, as evidenced by their behavior in the campaign leading up to the provincial elections on January 31, according to the Washington Post (click on the link for the full article).

Candidates for Baghdad's provincial council emulated John McCain at a three-hour town hall meeting, fielding questions from all quarters. With the violence diminished, politicians are now getting out in public. Some examples of questions from Iraqi citizens and journalists: 

• "Should the militarizing of Iraq continue?"
• "How are you going to deal with run-down buildings?" 
• "How much have you spent on your campaigns?"

There is no shortage of candidates vying for the 440 seats on provincial councils in 14 of the 18 provinces—14,431 (almost 30% female), to be exact, with over 400 blocs participating!

Posters are everywhere, and newspaper ads and glossy brochures are numerous. The evidence of the Americanization of Iraq's politics is also heard on the radio and television, with jingles and spots playing repeatedly, and candidate images and slogans on T-shirts (similar to those for Barack Obama a few months ago). A photograph of Sabir al-Isawi (the head of the Baghdad provincial council) for example, was printed on a campaign poster; he is depicted looking upward (like Obama in several U.S. posters), with an image of a child drinking polluted water from a broken pipe behind him.

Many women are running for office, but some have criticized them for illustrating their posters and other printed material with photographs of themselves. "We don't have a problem with women who want to be elected," Jaber Hussein Alwani (a tribal leader in Fallujah) said. "But they don't have to publicize their photo. It's unacceptable. They can just publish their names," he stated.

Some Iraqis complain about their politicians and political marketing—just like citizens in other countries. One stated: "When they put up posters, they each make themselves out to look like the best. When they're in office, they do nothing." Another declared: "I will not vote for anyone. I don't trust any of them. They're all thieves."

Hillary Clinton’s “3 a.m." advertisement (released in March) was named the “Best TV Spot” of the 2008 election, chosen by a large margin in a poll of Campaigns & Elections’ Politics magazine subscribers (many of whom are political professionals). Here are the complete results for the question in the poll:

Which of the following political advertisements would you say was the “Best TV spot” of the 2008 election?   
Hillary Clinton – “3 A.M.”    31%
Barack Obama – “The Moment”    24%
John McCain – “Celebrity”    11%
Mike Huckabee – “Chuck Norris Approved”    9%
Bill Richardson – “Job Interviews”    7%
Mitt Romney – “Experience Matters”    3%
Republican National Committee – “Storm”    3%
Mike Gravel – “Throws a Rock in a Lake”    1%
Other    4%
Don’t Know    6%

Clinton's ad did get a lot of attention, and may have helped her win many primaries after it was released—as well as spawning a multitude of parodies on YouTube. Here is the original ad:

Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster, which became the most famous icon of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, DC, on January 17. Fairey is a guerrilla artist, who previously was best known for his  "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" street-art posters and stickers, which promoted the huge wrestler in the late 1980s.

The National Portrait Gallery's blog stated: "Early in 2008, Fairey produced his first Obama portrait, with a stenciled face, visionary upward glance, and the caption 'Progress.' In this second version, Fairey repeated the heroic pose and patriotic color scheme, substituting the slogan 'Hope' .... The campaign sold 50,000 official posters; a San Francisco streetwear company produced T-shirts; grassroots organizations disseminated hundreds of thousands of stickers; and a free downloadable version generated countless repetitions."

Iraq's provincial election will take place at the end of January. Campaign posters are ubiquitous, especially in Baghdad, but they are often defaced or ripped down soon after they go up (as occurs in many countries)!

Accordingly, political parties and individual candidates have been admonished by the head of the country's Independent High Electoral Commission about defacing posters, as well as placing them on government buildings and security checkpoints. The penalties assessed can range from $90 to $44,500 (U.S.)

A party's election slate number is usually displayed prominently on the poster. One poster, for example, states: 
"Madaniyoon list number 460: Our objective is to make sterilized water reach every house," according to the Los Angeles Times.