German election hoardings

In just over a month, on June 9, German voters will go to the polls for European Parliament elections. In some states, local elections will be run concurrently. This means a lot of election hoardings along roadsides and on lampposts. Today, an illustrated tour of some of these billboards with photos taken by myself of billboards down by the Rhine river here.

(I've always kept this blog for posts related in some way to ACT. I'm almost going to break this rule, but have found myself a get-out clause. On the tour of German election hoardings is the Free Democratic Party (FDP) - a party which ACT has in the past seen as "like minded".)

Let's start then with the FDP billboard. The caption reads "For Germany in Europe". It's the only European election billboard I've seen with a photograph of the leading candidate. I'll let you make your own decision as to why. Interestingly, at the bottom left is a number to which you text to receive an MMS picture of the billboard! And if you're on the Vodafone network, it's even free of charge!


The next billboard, also from the FDP, is for the council elections. A vandal has helpfully turned Mr. Strutz with a sticker which reflects the FDP's own image problem. It's been partially torn off, but the words "a****holes everywhere" are still clearly visible. This billboard also shows the FDP's latest slogan - translated liberally "You can rely on us". This doesn't seem that dissimilar from ACT's 2008 slogan, "The guts to do what's right".
The next two billboards are my favourites and one of the first examples of outright negative campaign advertising in Germany. The first is from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) - the main centre-left party here. The caption reads: "Financial sharks would vote for the FDP: for a Europe in which there are clear rules are for everyone."


There are two further negative billboards, one against the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and one against the Left Party. The caption for the latter reads: "Hot air would vote for the Left Party: for a Europe in which responsibility counts."



Political scientist Darren Lilleker has also posted on these billboards in the last week - at his site you can also view a YouTube clip. I suspect the SPD is using the European elections in June as a dry run for the main federal elections in September to see whether this sort of negative advertising is effective. Interest in the European elections is very low, so it's quite safe to try this sort of thing out now to see what works. It's definitely a more Anglo-American approach than has traditionally been the case here. While it's not surprising that this sort of thing will be attempted, it is surprising that the SPD is the one trying it. You might more readily expect this tactic from one of the smaller issue-driven parties, such as the FDP or the Greens.

On the other hand, while it's fine to attack the Left Party (which is regarded as untouchable by all the other main parties due to its extremist views), the FDP is part of the only constellation which could return the SPD back to power (along with the Greens - from the party colours it's called a "traffic light" coalition) other than continuing the unpopular Grand Coalition with the Christian Democrats. So despite the good humour there is the potential to backfire. Indeed, as political scientist Bonnie Meguid has proven, small parties tend to only benefit when big parties attack them. What you won't find is an SPD attack billboard against the Greens!


The final billboard on our tour is from the "Republicans" - a very distasteful micro-party with neo-Nazi views. The billboard reads "It's enough! Mainz can't be allowed to become Istanbul!". (Mainz in particular has a large minority population of Turkish origin). These small placards are mounted high up on lamp-posts - obviously targets for vandals. Earlier this week there were some up on the way to my work but these have already disappeared - I assume removed by some voters who, unsurprisingly, disagreed with their views. While the Republicans aren't electorally successful these days (they attracted 1.7% support in this state, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the last state elections in 2006) , they have been elsewhere in Germany in the past and the NPD - a party with similar views - is represented in several state parliaments in eastern Germany. However, in Mainz, a May Day neo-Nazi march attracted about 70 supporters, while thousands marched against them in a counter-demonstration.

I'll leave you with the Rhine river on a beautiful spring day...