The question of the use of (physical) campaign material with elections. A

comparison between The Netherlands and France.

By:

Alexis Dongar

Christel van Huffelen

Patricia Wieberdink

Trends in Communication (BECO.TIC.M9.V1213)

1

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

AND ECONOMY (SBE)

CHRISTELIJKE HOGESCHOOL WINDESHEIM

2 November 2012

Examiner: Jose Kooken

Summary

In principle, every four years – and for France every five – there are elections. During the election time each party tries to profile itself with respect to the other parties. In this essay, a desk research, there is a focus on the (physical) campaign material used with elections in France and the Netherlands; styled in the main question:

What are the differences of the (physical) campaign material used with elections compared to France and the Netherlands over the past 30 years?

The following body of work will give an answer to this question, but below there will be given a summary of the content described in the following chapters.

First an analysis was done on the posters in the Netherlands and France between 30 years ago and nowadays. The most striking differences were:

The use of ranking numbers (ranking of the last election); Photos of party leaders are shown more; Dutch parties use a principle in their poster, French not anymore; All parties use a logo in their poster nowadays; France: instead of advising the voter, the poster encourages the

voter to visit the website or a meeting.

The differences described above will be used for answering the main question. Starting with the ranking of the party. It is striking that France never has used it for a poster. The Netherlands doesn’t use it nowadays either, but did use it 30 years ago. Meanwhile France always did use a photo of the party leader in their posters. In the Netherlands parties started using it more from 2003. A similarity in using the photos is that the head and a part of the hull of the party leader is always displayed.

Furthermore in the Netherlands the parties use a principle or short ideology in their poster. Where France used to use a principle they nowadays don’t use it anymore. If parties in France use a message it is short, but mostly it is an encouragement for the voter to visit the website of the party or attend a meeting. In the Netherlands no party uses this type of communication. Perhaps this is a gesture for the Netherlands to try this type of communicating. Besides the use of physical support in a new way (teasing marketing) the social media could be used for informing the voter.

2

3

Foreword

At the moment the course Trends in Communication started, the elections in the Netherlands were quite actual. A week later the elections were so the climax of it was visbible. For us, Patricia Wieberdink and Christel van Huffelen, it was clear to have an essay about this subject. Later on a French man, Alexis Dongar, joined the group and accidentally there had been elections in France just before. That was quite witty so we decided to keep the subject we had at the beginning.

This course was taught by Jose Kooken, so we would like to thank her for her lectures during class and feedback on our essay.

4

Table of contents

Summary.....................................................................................................2

Foreword.....................................................................................................3

1. Introduction.............................................................................................5

2. Methodological justification....................................................................6

2.1. Choices..............................................................................................6

2.2. Operationalization.............................................................................6

3. The Netherlands......................................................................................7

4. France.....................................................................................................9

5. Results...................................................................................................10

6. Answering the main question................................................................14

7. References / Bibliography.....................................................................15

Appendix A. Search plan...........................................................................16

Appendix B. Verkiezingsposter plakken blijft populair.............................18

Appendix C. ‘Ranking the parties’.............................................................19

Appendix D. Verkiezingsposter achter het raam verdwijnt......................20

Appendix E. Presentation..........................................................................22

5

1.Introduction

In principle, every four years – and for France every five – there are elections. During the election time each party tries to profile itself with respect to the other parties. This spring there has been elections in the Netherlands and France, so this subject is quite actual.

In the Netherlands, in 1917 the universal manhood suffrage was provided, in 1919 the women’s suffrage1. The suffrage in France was provided in 18482. Suffrage does exist already quite a long time and parties use means of communication to profile itself and try to get the most voters.

To conclude: in the following body of work we will focus our attention on the (physical) campaign material used with elections in France and the Netherlands; styled in the main question:

What are the differences of the (physical) campaign material used with elections compared to France and the Netherlands over the past 30 years?

With the following sub-questions we will answer the main question:

1. What do we mean by (physical) campaign material? 2. When will the (physical) campaign material be used? 3. How do they use the(physical) campaign material in the

Netherlands nowadays? And how important is the (physical) campaign material there?

4. How do they use the (physical) campaign material in France nowadays? And how important is the (physical) campaign material there?

5. How did both countries use the (physical) campaign material 30 years ago?

6. What has changed in the (physical) campaign material in the Netherlands over the past 30 years?

7. What has changed in the (physical) campaign material in France over the past 30 years?

8. What are the similarities between the Netherlands and France in (physical) campaign material?

1.1. Method and literature

1 http://www.parlement.com/9353000/1f/j9vvhy5i95k8zxl/vh8lnhrouwze, retrieved October 1, 20122 Garrigou, 1998

6

We have chosen this particular subject in order to reveal background information and the new possible trend in-between the use of (physical) campaign material with elections. We have tried to narrow down our scope to very basic definitions of concepts like elections, politics, the period 1982- 2012 etc. and also provide a comparison between the Netherlands and France.

There might be some slight alternations in text as both Dutch and French literature had been used to provide deeper insight to the questions described above. With the search plan (see appendix A) we have made an overview about sources we thought we could use on forehand.

2. Methodological justification

Before describing the core of the research, it is important to know what the meaning of (pyshical) campaign material is (in this research) and when the (pyshical) campaign material will be used. Below there is also described what kind of choices are made in the field of type of research and which matching strategy is best.

2.1. Choices

This research contains a desk research. Desk research is doing research to all available data for a problem. Such data are also called secondary data; the data that are already collected by others. We will use this information for answering our sub-questions and main question. The sub-questions are mainly questions about 'what' and 'how'. Therefore these are descriptive questions.

Following is the implementation of the chosen strategies:Who: during the desk research there has been searched to various information to get progress.Where: the search tools that are used are databases, internet, literature and publications. How: mainly academically sources are used. This is important for the reliability of the study.What: the secondary data that are used are mainly academically.

2.2. Operationalization

2.2.1 (Physical) campaign materialPhysical campaign material consists of multiple words. Below is a definition of the two most important words: physical and campaign.

7

Physical: having substance or material existence; perceptible to the senses; "a physical manifestation"; "surrounded by tangible objects"3.

Campaign: the competition by rival political candidates and organizations for public office4.

So in this research the physical campaign materials are the (tangible) material recourses which will be used during the election campaigns. By (tangible) material recourses you can think of visual media like posters, flyers, brochures, advertisements in newspapers and promotional items (giveaways). But you can also think of audiovisual media like television and the digital world like internet. (Michels, 2006). In this research the focus is on the visual media, on the posters and flyers.

2.2.2 The use ofThis paragraph describes when the (physical) campaign material will be used. As mentioned in the introduction, mostly there are every four years – and in France every five- elections. During this time there are also the election campaigns.

Just before the elections the parties announce their plans in the final election programs. This is the official kick-off for the campaigning. It’s up to the parties when they decide to announce their election programs. Most parties will do this two or three weeks before the elections. During the last elections in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012, the parties D66 and VVD announced their election programs on 25 August. They were the last two parties. After that moment the election campaign erupted5. Politicians go on the street to talk with the citizens about the election programs. They are promoting their political party (Tweedekamer.nl). And also from this moment you will see more and more posters and flyers around.

3. The Netherlands

In this chapter you will find an answer to the question how the (physical) campaign material is used nowadays and how important the material really is. There also will be a clearing about what has changed over the past 30 years. In this chapter anything applies to the Netherlands.

Nowadays

3 http://ardictionary.com/Physical, retrieved October 1, 20124 http://ardictionary.com/Campaign, retrieved October 1, 2012

5 http://nos.nl/artikel/410493-vvd-d66-stellen-programma-vast.html, retrieved October 1, 2012

8

The (physical) campaign material is still used that is clear. But are election posters still relevant? Hermannus Blok, chair of the Christian Union (ChristenUnie), hears this question more often (see appendix B). He says: “’Poster stickers’ have a lot to do with vandalism: posters are defaced, smeared and even torn.” The CU'er even wonders what the added value of the posters is: “It escapes no one that elections are coming, don't you?” (Rottier; 2012)

Though according to Anneremarie Walter (Rottier; 2012), Associate Professor of Political Communication at the VU, a poster is a ‘useful supporting medium’ in the campaign. “A picture has more power than words, a poster creates awareness and also has a psychological effect: when many people have the same election poster in their windows, it gives the impression that the party is important.”

Kant (University of Utrecht) agrees with this. He says: “A picture often says more than 1000 words, if the picture is clear and easy.” To clarify, this phrase emerged in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title “One look is worth a thousand words”, in Printer's Ink, December 1921 (phrases.org.uk). It may be clear that a picture is useful, but is it still relevant?

According to ‘The General Newspaper’ (Het Algemeen Dagblad) it is still popular to stick election posters. There are printed more than 400.000 posters by different political parties. Though there is also an alternative: political parties deliver their posters for the campaign digital at the municipality. The municipality print banners (all equal in size and made of strong material) and of the posters. For example Soest and Capelle aan den IJssel experimented with this the recent elections. This is also to discourage vandalism. Blok finds it hard to say if this development can be seen as a trend: “Many municipalities now have those wooden boards. These can still be used for a while.” But the alternative banners don’t make political parties less visible, he thinks. “I can’t imagine that the voting behavior is influenced by the posters. But as long as the current boards are still there, parties don’t want to fall behind, like parties not stay behind,” thus the chair of the Christian Union.

Walter: “In the countries around us, but also in the United States, the poster plays a major role during the elections.” She suspects that because of the less prominence of posters in stock, the influence of the voter has decreased. Moreover for relatively unknown parties the posters are of greater importance. Walter finds the poster pretty boring now: “You see a party leader and the logo of the party. Posters used to be genuine artwork and were full of symbolism.”

AnalysisTo compare different campaign posters, we just randomly chose some posters. The parties which posters will be analyzed are: People's Party for

9

Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Christian Union (ChristenUnie) and the Labour Party (PvdA). On the following page you can see the campaign posters from 1982 (Verkiezingsaffiches.nl):1. VVD: 2. CDA:

3. ChristenUnie (Reformed Political Federation): 4. PvdA:

What is striking is that the parties mostly use only one color. You also see at poster 2,3 and 4 a big number. This number means the ranking of the last elections (see appendix C). About symbols; you see at poster 1,3 and 4 that the parties use their logo in the poster, to let the voters recognize their party. The principles of the parties are not told in the poster, but you see at 1,2 and 3 the name of the party leader. Only the poster of the VVD has a photo of the party leader in it.

10

Annemarie Walter (Rottier; 2012): “During the pillarization election posters were used widely, also by citizens at home. Now more people hide their political preference. Many people also don’t know what they are going to vote.” She continues: “The election campaign was formerly quite different. Politicians had much more direct contact with voters”, says Walter. “Now the debate is mainly through the media played.”

4. France

After the Netherlands, the sub-questions will be answered for France. Answers to: how is the (physical) campaign material used nowadays and how important is the material really. There also will be a clearing about what has changed over the past 30 years.

First of all, there is a need to explain the differences in elections between the Netherlands and France. In the Netherlands when there are the national elections, there are a lot of parties you can choose in-between. The parties that win seats are called the parliament. There are 150 seats to divide. The party with the most seats, is able to form the coalition, which has to contain at least 75 seats. In France meanwhile, they use a district system with a first and second round (Bongrand, 1993) . The party with finally the absolute majority can deliver the party leader.

Before the elections start in France, utilities install boards, available to all political parties running for the elections. Because every party is able to post its poster on this board, it happens that the readability is not that good; posters are displayed in a strange way and some are placed one over another. It is also possible to buy spots, but only richer parties can afford this. This makes the reading easier and the posters are located at better places sometimes.

First of all the physical campaign material has an informative role (Gerstlé, 1996); it is used to transmit an ideology, an idea or valor to the person who is watching it: these ideas are the base of the party’s purpose. Because space is limited, the message must be simple, evocative, clear and relevant.

Physical campaign material has an important role in France. Albouy (1994) says “it personalizes the political party into one man, generally their party leader. Posters have the role of presenting the politician and more important: they have to establish his/her image, if the politician is already known by the target, the board could strengthen its image.”

These are examples of French posters, used in 1981 for the presidential elections.

11

You see that both posters have a photo of their party leader at the poster. The first person looks into the camera, the second doesn’t. You also see that poster 1 is a black and white poster, poster 2 is a colored poster. The principles of the parties are told in the poster. On poster 1, the poster of the Union for the French democracy (UDF), they have the slogan ‘Il faut un president a la France’; which means in English: France requires a president. This type of marketing was called teasing marketing (Gerstlé, 1996). The second poster, Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste) has the slogan ‘La force tranquille’; in English: ‘the quiet strength’. Both parties didn’t use a symbol in their poster.

12

1982 1989 2003 2012

1. VVD

2. CDA

3. RPF (Christen-

Unie)

4. PvdA

5. Results

13

This chapter contains the results and answers of sub-question 6,7 and 8. First the Netherlands will be described, further on the results of France are described.

To compare the campaign material for the Netherlands over the past 30 years, you can find a table with four different posters from the parties of chapter 3 ordered by party and year: VVD, CDA, RPF (ChristenUnie) and PvdA (verkiezingsaffiches.nl):The VVD is a liberal party. The colors they use are blue and orange. Blue is typical for liberals: “The Liberals were in the 1870s in the elections a place at the election card on the left, the blue column. The Catholics were right in carmine red, the rest stood in the middle, without color. The Liberals won, and they kept the blue as their ‘color’. The Catholics lost, and so they didn’t cling to red. Moreover, the color red became the color for international socialist movement that gradually came (exempli gratia the red hats of the French revolutionaries). The socialists everywhere turned into red.” (KADOC, 2003) That is why the PvdA has the color red in its poster. It is a socialistic party. “The color green is the color of the Christian workers' movement.” The CDA and RPF are both Christian parties.

Changes30 years ago most parties had the ranking of the last elections in their poster, but since 2003 it isn’t popular anymore. Even in 2012 no party used it anymore. Where party 1,3 and 4 used their logo as symbol in their poster in 1982, nowadays every party uses its logo (PvdA only half of it), so in terms of symbols aren’t there so many changes.

In 1982 no party used a principle in its poster. From 1989 some parties start using it and in 2003 every party has used it. In 2012 every party has still one or more principles they carry out in their poster. About using a photo; line by line the parties use a photo of the party leader. Striking is that the VVD always used a photo, but in 2012 didn’t use a photo of their party leader. In the excision of the photos you also see differences: in 1982 the head was cropped, you see this in 1989 as well. In 2003 all the photos are taken in a quite strange setting. Wouter Bos (PvdA) is at the picture with his whole party, Gerrit Zalm (VVD) is sitting on a chair, trying to be wise (?) with his hand under his chin and André Rouvoet’s (CU) picture was taken from above. In 2012 you see a big similarity: the photos of the party leaders all contain the head and a part of the hull. In general the changes which can be seen are that the ranking isn’t important anymore. You see it is useful that the logo is used. Some parties already used this, but now it is more important. Last thing is that the photos are getting important as well; nowadays the posters contain at least the head and a part of the hull.

France

14

The President of the French Republic is elected every five years since 2002. Before 2002 it was every seven years. Therefore there are not that many posters available to analyze. Moreover it was hard to trace out campaign material from each year. That is the reason why you sometimes only see one poster from a year.

15

1981 1981 1988

DevelopmentsWhat immediately strikes is the fact that all posters contain a person, the party leader. This is the only thing what is representative for the whole political party. You can see a quality difference between the poster from 30 years ago and 2012, but that may be clear. There is not a trend visible where the party leader is looking at: it varies between looking in the camera and looking somewhere else. Colors that are used are always national colors (red, white or blue). It also has something to do with political colors (KADOC, 2003), which was described before.

In contrast to 30 years ago, nowadays the parties don’t use their message to transmit an ideology. It is more a short shout to remind the voter. Also different is the fact that the posters have a logo in their poster more often.

16

1995 2002 2002

2007 2012 2012

2012 2012 2012

17

The message stays very simple. Benoit (2007): “Since 1995’s election, the role of boards has evolved, due to the development of new media; the physical support has found a new youth, in the continuity of the 80’s teasing marketing, the role of the physical campaign material became less supportive and other types of media became more important, including social networks.”

Artufel (2007): “The paper is no longer there to advice the reader to vote for a political party but to encourage them to go to visit the website of the party or ask them questions about social networks, it could also be an invitation to a meeting.” To conclude: on the boards between 30 years ago and 2012 you can see that the message is longer, but it doesn’t communicate an idea or an ideology. It stays basic and refer to a website or a great meeting.

Similarities It may be clear that there are more differences than similarities in the use of campaign material between the Netherlands and France during the years. There are two similarities. The first one is that both countries use photos in their posters nowadays. France already had done this before. In the Netherlands the use of photos became also more important; nowadays most posters include a photo of the party leader. The way these photos are shown today, are generally in both countries the same: the posters contain at least the head and a part of the hull of the party leader.

The other similarity is that the use of the logo in posters has become more important for both countries. In the Netherlands most parties use a logo in their posters. In France you also see this more often.

18

6. Answering the main question

The desk research has shown that the role of physical campaign material became less supportive and other types of media became more important, including social networks (Benoit, 2007). Still posters are used. In the following chapter the main question will be described and potential trends will be suggested.

First there was an analysis on the posters in the Netherlands and in France between 30 years ago and nowadays. For the Netherlands the main differences between 30 years ago were:

The ranking isn’t important anymore; Photos of party leaders are shown more; Every party uses a principle in their poster.

Differences for France since 30 years ago and nowadays: Transmitting of an ideology has disappeared; Nowadays the parties use a logo in their poster; The message is shorter; Instead of advising the voter, encouraging the voter to visit the

website or a meeting.

Compared to the similarities it may be clear that there are more differences than similarities in the use of campaign material between the Netherlands and France during the years. But while comparing the differences between the Netherlands to France over the past 30 years there are more aspects.

After the body of work described in the chapters above there will follow an answer to the main question:

What are the differences of the (physical) campaign material used with elections compared to France and the Netherlands over the past 30 years

The differences described above will be used for answering the main question. Starting with the ranking of the party. It is striking that France never has used it for a poster. The Netherlands doesn’t use it nowadays either, but did use it 30 years ago. Meanwhile did France always use a photo of the party leader in their posters. In the Netherlands parties started using it more from 2003. A similarity in using the photos is that the head and a part of the hull of the party leader is always displayed.

SuggestionFurthermore in the Netherlands the parties use a principle or short ideology in their poster. Where France used to use a principle they nowadays don’t use it anymore. If France uses a message it is short, but mostly it is an encouragement for the voter to visit the website of the

19

party or attend a meeting. In the Netherlands no party uses this type of communication. Perhaps this is a gesture for the Netherlands to try this type of communicating. Besides the use of physical support in a new way (teasing marketing) the social media could be used for informing the voter.

20

7. References / Bibliography

PrintAlbouy, S., (1994). Marketing et communication politique. Paris: L'Harmattan

Bongrand, M., (1993). Le marketing politique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France

Gerstlé, J., (1996). La communication politique. Quebec: Presses Université du Québec

Michels, W.J. (2006). Communicatie handbook. Groningen/Houten: Wolters-Noordhoff

OnlineArtufel. C., (2007). Nicolas Sarkozy ou la communication politique en action. [Mouvements, n°52] Retrieved October 6, 2012, from http://www.cairn.info/revue-mouvements-2007-4-page-45.htm

Author Unkown. ARDictionary. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://ardictionary.com/Campaign

Author Unkown. ARDictionary. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://ardictionary.com/Physical

Author Unknown. Campagne voeren. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.tweedekamer.nl/hoe_werkt_het/verkiezingen_en_kabinetsformatie/campagne_voeren/index.jsp

Author Unknown (2003). KADOC [Newsletter # 4]. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.demeester.com/politiekekleuren.htm

Author Unkown. Kiesrecht. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://www.parlement.com/9353000/1f/j9vvhy5i95k8zxl/vh8lnhrouwze

Author Unkown. VVD, D66 stellen programma vast. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://nos.nl/artikel/410493-vvd-d66-stellen-programma-vast.html

Benoit, J-M., (2007). La communication dans la campagne [Le débat, n°146] Retrieved October 6, 2012 http://www.cairn.info/revue-le-debat-2007-4-p-73.htm

21

Garrigou, A. (1998). Le suffrage universel, « invention » française. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1998/04/GARRIGOU/10288

Kant, G. (2001). Algorithms for drawing planar graphs. University of Utrecht, Retrieved October 2, 2012, from http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/01855269/UUindex.html

Verbal-

Appendix A. Search plan

Our problem statement The (physical) campaign material used with elections in France and the Netherlands.

Main questionWhat are the differences of the (physical) campaign material used with elections compared to France and the Netherlands over the past 30 years?

Sub-questionsFor answering the problem statement, we will use the following sub questions:

1. What do we mean by (physical) campaign material? 2. When will the (physical) campaign material be used? 3. How do they use the(physical) campaign material in the

Netherlands nowadays? And how important is the (physical) campaign material there?

4. How do they use the(physical) campaign material in France nowadays? And how important is the (physical) campaign material there?

5. How did both countries use the (physical) campaign material 30 years ago?

6. What has changed in the (physical) campaign material in the Netherlands over the past 30 years?

7. What has changed in the (physical) campaign material in France over the past 30 years?

8. What are the similarities between the Netherlands and France in (physical) campaign material?

Definition of our subjectThe subject is doing research to the differences of the (physical) campaign material used with elections compared to France and the

22

Netherlands over the past 30 years. This research have to make clear what the big changes are in (campaign) material between these countries and, if there is some trend, in (physical) campaign material. Besides the differences between the countries, it should also show the similarity in (physical) campaign material in the Netherlands and France.

The research will be done in English, because the investigation involves two countries with a different language. The research will be done by one French student and two Dutch students. They will communicate with each other in English. The research will be done in the period 1982- 2012. A time frame of 30 years.

Keywords The keywords we will be using are:

Elections (Physical) campaign material Politics France The Netherlands Election posters Differences Changes Similarities The period 1982- 2012 (30 years)

PeriodThe research will be done in the period of the 24 September until the 15 October.

SourcesDatabasesWe will use the following databases

HBO Kennisbank PiCarta Narcis Lexis Nexis Academic WorldCat

PublicationsWe will search for publications in above databases and on Google Scholar. We will also use the websites of the selected politics parties. For the Netherlands we will take as example the PvdA. We will use their website www.pvda.nl. There is also a Dutch website www.verkiezingsaffiches.nl. This website gives some information about Dutch election posters during the years, starting from 1815.

LiteratureWe will use Google Scholar for finding literature.

23

PracticesWe will use some examples like the (physical) campaign material that has been used during the recently elections in the Netherlands (September 2012) and in France (June 2012).

Search engines

Name Databases: Google Scholar, LexisNexis Academic

Selected keywords: verkiezingsposters, digitaal verkiezingsbord

Title Journal Author ISSN Year

Volume

Number

Page

De teloorgang van het politieke affiche

Online article

Gerrit Voerman

Unkown

2003

Unkown

Unkown

1

Verkiezingsposter achter het raam verdwijnt

Dagblad van het Noorden

Section: In het Nieuws

Willem Dekker

Unknown

2012

157.000

128 2

Verkiezingsposters plakken blijft populair

Nederlands

Dagblad

Jan Pieter Rottier

Unknown

2012

29.708 (2010)

Unkown

Unkown

Appendix B. Verkiezingsposter plakken blijft populair

BYLINE: Door Jan Pieter Rottier

SECTION: Nederlands Dagblad; Blz. onbekend

LENGTH: 658 woorden

Ze hangen schots en scheef, soms half over elkaar heen. Verkiezingsposters opvallend opplakken hoort bij het politieke spel. Maar hoe lang nog? Een aantal gemeenten experimenteert met posters die naast elkaar op een groot doek geprint staan. Winsum Zijn verkiezingsposters nog wel van deze tijd?

Hermannus Blik, voorzitter van de ChristenUnie-fractie in Winsum, hoort die vraag steeds vaker. 'Posterplakkers hebben veel te maken met vandalisme: posters worden beklad, besmeurd en soms zelfs kapot gescheurd.' De CU'er vraagt zich zelfs af wat de toegevoegde waarde van de posters is: 'Het ontgaat toch niemand dat er verkiezingen aankomen?' Maar volgens Annemarie Walter, universitair docent Politieke Communicatie aan de VU, is een poster een 'nuttig ondersteunend medium' in de campagne. 'Beeld heeft meer kracht dan woord, een poster zorgt voor bekendheid en heeft ook een psychologisch effect: als veel mensen 

24

dezelfde verkiezingsposter achter hun raam hebben, wekt dat de indruk dat die partij belangrijk is.' Tijdens de verzuiling werden veel verkiezingsposters gebruikt, vertelt Walter, ook bij burgers thuis. 'Nu komen mensen minder uit voor hun politieke voorkeur. Velen weten ook nog niet wat ze gaan stemmen.' De verkiezingscampagne was vroeger ook heel anders, aldus Walter. 'Toen hadden politici veel directer contact met kiezers. Nu wordt het debat vooral via de media gespeeld.' De geringe rol die verkiezingsposters in Nederland hebben, heeft niet zo veel met de poster zelf te maken, zegt de universitair docent. 'In de landen om ons heen, maar ook in Amerika, speelt de poster nog een grote rol tijdens verkiezingen.' Ze vermoedt dat doordat posters in Nederland minder prominent aanwezig zijn, de invloed op de kiezer afgenomen is. Voor relatief onbekende partijen zijn posters overigens van groter belang. En als het ontwerp in de media besproken wordt, groeit de invloed eveneens. De kans dat dit gebeurt, is niet zo groot. Walter vindt de posters van nu vrij saai. 'Je ziet een lijsttrekker en het logo van zijn partij. Vroeger waren posters echte kunstwerken en stonden ze bol van de symboliek.' plicht Begin deze week heeft fractievoorzitter Blik schriftelijke vragen aan het college van Winsum gesteld. 'Ik vraag mij af of gemeenten überhaupt een wettelijke plicht hebben om posters op te hangen. En als dat het geval is, ben ik benieuwd of er alternatieven zijn om posters op te hangen', zegt hij. Volgens een woordvoerder van de Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeenten bestaat die plicht niet. 'Gemeenten zijn vrij een eigen vorm te kiezen', aldus een woordvoerder. 'Veel hangt af van de eigen ambities en doelstellingen van een gemeente, soms bestaat er opkomstbevorderend beleid. Gemeenten moeten overigens wel de verkiezingen aankondigen.' Het is nog steeds populair om verkiezingsposters te plakken.Het Algemeen Dagblad becijferde dat er deze campagne in totaal ruim 400.000 posters zijn gedrukt door de verschillende politieke partijen. Er bestaat ook een alternatief: politieke partijen leveren hun posters voor de campagne digitaal bij de gemeente. Die drukt ze - allemaal even groot - op spandoeken van stevig materiaal. Onder andere Soest en Capelle aan den IJssel hebben daar deze verkiezingen mee geëxperimenteerd. Hiermee wordt vandalisme en scheefplakken tegengaan. Of er echt een trend is, vindt de VNG-woordvoerder lastig te zeggen. 'Veel gemeenten hebben nu die houten borden. Die gaan nog wel even mee.' De alternatieve posterdoeken maken politieke partijen niet minder zichtbaar, denkt Blik. 'Ik kan mij ook niet voorstellen dat stemgedrag beïnvloed wordt door de posters.' Maar zolang de huidige borden er nog zijn, willen partijen niet achterblijven, denkt de fractievoorzitter van de ChristenUnie. 'Wij hebben natuurlijk ook onze posters opgehangen.' < Jan Pieter Rottier nd.nl/binnenland beeld novum / Dirk Hol Het verkiezingsbord op het Buitenhof in Den Haag Verkiezingsposters plakken blijft populair.

Appendix C. ‘Ranking the parties’

25

26

Appendix D. Verkiezingsposter achter het raam verdwijnt 

BYLINE: Door Willem Dekker

SECTION: Dagblad van het Noorden: In het Nieuws; Blz. 2

LENGTH: 730 woorden

REPORTAGE VERKIEZINGSPOSTERS

3 Televisie heeft de raamposter in verkiezingsstrijd verdrongen

Assen/Groningen Je moet goed zoeken. Wie heeft vandaag de dag nog een verkiezingsposter achter het raam? Bijna niemand meer. De televisie heeft de poster verdrongen. "Het beeldscherm is het hoofdtoneel van de verkiezingsstrijd", zegt Gerrit Voerman van het Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen in Groningen. Hij deed onderzoek naar de verkiezingsposter en schreef er boeken over.

Politieke partijen hebben minder leden dan vroeger. "En de kiezerstrouw neemt af. Het is niet meer zo dat als je eens PvdA stemt, je altijd PvdA stemt", zegt Voerman. Afnemende politieke betrokkenheid is ook een reden dat de postermet het hoofd van de partijleider achter het raam verdwijnt. Daarbij komt dat mensen zich lijken te generen een biljet op te hangen.

Vroeger kleurden hele straten rood, zoals na de oorlog in Amsterdam waar de communistische CPN en PvdA in een felle verkiezingsstrijd verwikkeld waren. De CPN drukte de affiches door papierschaarste op de achterkant van Amerikaanse legerkaarten. Nu is het affiche verhuisd naar de zijkant van het bushokje of naar de enorme reclamepilaren. Zoals in Hoogeveen waar CDA-leider Sybrand Buma je vanaf de snelweg levensgroot begroet.

Gemeenten plaatsen nog wel verkiezingsborden met affiches. Die houden de politieke poster kunstmatig in stand. Dit jaar laten veel gemeenten de borden voorbedrukken met posters, waardoor partijleden zelf niet meer hoeven te plakken. "Het is zo steriel geworden. De romantiek van het plakken en het overplakken is verdwenen. Stond er weer een berichtje in krant dat de ene partij de poster van de andere had overgeplakt."

Het politieke affiche wacht volgens Voerman uiteindelijk hetzelfde lot als de vaandels van linkse partijen. Die zijn er ook niet meer. "Wat wel blijft zijn posters tegen concrete projecten, als de 'No Way-posters' tegen de tram in Groningen en de raambiljetten tegen de windmolenparken in Oost-Groningen en Drenthe."

Teije Staal (74), Bedum. Poster CDA

¦ "Ik heb twee posters opgehangen, een grote en een kleine. Op de bovenverdieping. Dan hoeven we er zelf niet tegenaan te kijken, haha. Zolang we in Bedum wonen, twaalf jaar nu, hebben we met de verkiezingen een posterhangen. Ik ben lid van het CDA. Van het partijbureau hebben we een poster gekregen, de andere is van het CDA-Bedum. Ik zie niet veel posters in het dorp hangen. Ik stem al jaren CDA. Vanwege het geloof, maar ook vanwege de principes. Of de posters het CDA aan stemmen helpen? Ik heb geen idee."

Bert Garssen (66), Groningen. Poster Partij voor de Dieren

¦ "Het is voor het eerst dat ik een poster van een politieke partij ophang. Ik kreeg deze een week geleden in de bus. Als je de partij steunt, moet je het affiche ook ophangen. Of mensen naar de poster kijken, weet ik niet. Ik heb er niet op gelet. Ik ben geen lid van de Partij van de Dieren. Ze komt ook niet in de regering, maar heeft wel veel bereikt. In de campagne gaat het bijna alleen over mensen en niet over dieren en planten. Volgens de kieswijzer moet ik op een andere partij stemmen. Ik heb liever kernenergie dan een kolencentrale."

Mimoun Berkan (27), Zuidlaren. Poster SP

¦ "De SP is tegen de wietpas. Ik werk in coffeeshop Illusion in Zuidlaren en woon boven de zaak. Ik denk bij de verkiezingen aan mezelf. Als de wietpas wordt ingevoerd, krijgen we problemen in Zuidlaren. Dan wordt er op 

27

straa gedeald en zo ontstaat criminaliteit. Kijk, binnen hangt nog een poster en daar staat een opblaasbare tomaat. Op de bar liggen flyers. Zo hopen we steun en aandacht te krijgen voor onze zaak. We hadden onlangs leden van SP-Tynaarlo op bezoek. Die vroegen of ik lid wilde worden. Daar wacht ik nog even mee."

Kees Dijkstra, Assen. Poster D66

Р"Ik ben inderdaad vrijwel de enige in de wijk Peelo met een poster voor het raam. Mijn vriendin moet er ook aan wennen, die is niet zo met politiek bezig. Ik begrijp volkomen dat mensen tegenwoordig niet zo snel een affiche voor hunraam hangen. Er zijn om de paar jaar verkiezingen en mensen zien door de bomen het bos niet meer. Voor mijzelf geldt dat ik lid ben van D66 en plaatsvervangend raadslid in Assen. Ik wil wel wat uitdragen en dit is een manier om dat te doen. Ik help ook mee met folderen op het Koopmansplein. Het zal toch wel iets van invloed hebben."

M''ensen lijken zich te generen

28

Appendix E. Presentation

http://prezi.com/sqgdzm5i28uc/tic_presentation/

29