Comment

Every three years taxpayers generously donate would be politicians considerable amounts of money so that these political aspirants can then inflict their election campaigns on said taxpayers in return.

A considerable amount of the money is spent on the billboards which litter our roadsides for two months. While the ones dotting the countryside are bad enough the ones which sprout up like groups of toadstools at the entrances to towns are the greatest eyesore. Usually too many to be taken in at a glance by passing motorists, they are simply placed to cancel each other out.

Such a group welcome visitors to the Wairarapa. Sited at the bottom of the Rimutakas they are actually on Council controlled public land. Shame on councillors for giving permission for these hoardings’ erection. Our councillors may well have followed the Auckland councillors’ lead. I note that they have taken a stand against such hoardings being erected on public land, beauty spots and tourist areas. Good on them!
Given that the billboards are extremely expensive to produce I wonder if any of the parties have carried out a survey on their effectiveness. Can anybody’s vote be swayed by these brightly boring signs? Has anybody, having driven past a sign a couple of dozen times, come to think ‘he’s got a nice smile – I’ll vote for him’?

For that is all the signs seem to offer – big smiles airbrushed to a state where the candidates look rather like so many rather shifty money lenders. Bringing to mind the advice in a song from Walt Disney’s version of Peter Pan: ‘Never smile at a crocodile. Don’t be taken in by his friendly grin’.
I note that Phil Goff has decided against the face everywhere billboards, however the local Labour candidate continues the ‘look at me’ tradition. And in any case Phil’s alternative is, if possible, an even greater blot on the landscape.

Surely somebody in the parties have the wit to at least come up with something other than the ‘look at me’ signs which have been the norm for as long as there have been hoardings. Of all the campaigns over the years only two have created lasting attention: Rob Muldoon’s dancing Cossacks and Don Brash’s Iwi/Kiwi. Love them or hate them at least they produced interest.
It seems that even the ubiquitous vandals are likewise lost for good ideas. All they seem to be able to come up with in their efforts are big glasses, Hitler moustaches or simply trash the sign..

If we must have billboards let’s at least have some interesting ones. Maybe Tui Brewery’s advertising agency could be asked for some bright ideas. Or perhaps the Hell Pizza boys – now theirs would be sure to get some attention. To be fair, it must be noted that the Green Party have replaced politicians with children (also airbrushed) – in a contest for attention children will win every time.

The ultimate answer is to ban the ugly hoardings altogether, after all they really serve no purpose . The would be politicos could then waste their money on media which it is easier to be avoided. TV? Who watch the tele adverts. Newspapers? Simply flick over the page. Radio? Switch over to National Radio…. I rest my case.

Mike Beckett