Defacing Election Posters: A Form of Political Culture Jamming?

Abstract

Even in this media-centric age of the Internet, newspapers, television, and social networking, election posters are a significant form of communication in political campaigns. They are strategically placed to promote candidates and convince voters. However, viewers are not just passive receivers; they can also reciprocate and “jam” an election poster. This article offers an explorative approach to such practices to study their creation and usage. Two distinct examples of defacement are chosen and examined. Both of these reacted to the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s (SPD) election campaign for the German federal election in 2005. The election took place after widespread protests and a loss of confidence in the SPD and its chancellor. The investigated posters showed parallels to political culture jamming, though parody or disturbing effects are not true of all modifications. Election posters are also used as a medium to communicate politics from the grassroots.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank Ralf Bohnsack, Heike Kanter, Marion Müller, Hagen Schölzel, Trevor Wardle and the two anonymous reviewers for their instructive commentaries and discussions on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

¹ For more details see, for example, Cammaerts (2007), Carducci (2006), and Schölzel (2013).

² Examples for subtle defacements in Schölzel (2013) are alterations related to an online call to rework a poster in the 2009 federal election in Germany showing the former minister of the interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, with the statement, “We are in shape to warrant security and freedom” (German: ‘Wir haben die Kraft für Sicherheit und Freiheit’).

³ Aside from the content of the posters, their instalment already codifies public space. This occupation of public space stakes a claim on leadership. Hence, the destruction of the posters documents a rejection of this stance. According to Schölzel (2013), the destructive act as such can trigger reflection on the codification of space. For him, such actions make it clear that the public occupancy of public space is disputed and therefore always open to alternatives.

⁴ For more details on the analytical procedure and exemplary picture interpretations using the documentary method see Bohnsack (2008, 2013) or Philipps (2012, 2015).

⁵ In Germany, benefits aligned with the minimum subsistence level means, in effect, relative poverty. In contrast to absolute poverty where there is a lack of vital necessities, relative poverty results from a comparison with the social environment. Statistically, relative poverty is measured using the median of the equivalent net income. Individual incomes that are around 50% of the equivalent net income of the population are often used as the poverty line.

⁶ The photograph of the defaced election poster “Powerful. Courageous. Humane” (Figure 4) captures only a segment of the original poster (Figure 2).

⁷ At a different location the same poster underwent an alternative alteration. In this instance the word “Menschlich” (humane) was substituted for the word “Machtgeil” (power hungry) using the same font, size and colour.

⁸ A poster in the SPD’s election campaign 2005 stating, “Those who want peace must be committed” (German: “Wer Frieden will, muss standhaft sein”) was altered into “Those who want to have sex must be friendly” (German: “Wer ficken will, muss freundlich sein”).

⁹ Müller (2012) also mentions politicians presented as Borgs (a pseudo-race of cybernetic beings in the American sci-fi series Star Trek: The Next Generation)—the embodiment of evil.