The ‘colorful’ campaign season

By Jasper John De Guzman

JUST three weeks from now, we will be casting our votes. Election day is fast approaching.

The elections this year will be different in the sense it will be the first time that it will be automated. But the campaign period has been much the same. The trademark political gimmicks have been present, plus some new tricks, and as such I would say it has been as ‘colorful’ as ever.

A lot of persuading tactics are taken by every candidate and the political parties, with the intention, of course of winning the voters’ “YES”.

Political advertisement in all kinds of media — television, radio, print including newspapers and magazines — have been very visible. And yes, also through mobile telephones and on the internet. The power of texting here in our texting-crazy country has not been overlooked in this election by campaign strategists. Many candidates have put up their own websites and opened accounts in the different social networking sites, which have nowadays become a very popular vehicle for connecting to people and spreading information.

Many of them are, just like in the past, using catchy jingles with the name of the candidate repeatedly mentioned in the lyrics, plus a slogan, and sometimes their platform and experiences are also included. The retention power of songs could really be very effective.

Some candidates are not just using the ads to promote themselves. They are also using their advertisement allotment to attack their opponents by showing their negative side or bad points. Mudslinging. Nothing new in there when it comes to Philippine politics.

Another political gimmick of the candidates is using popular entertainment and sports personalities to endorse them or to join their campaigns in the different parts of the country. Maybe that will not necessarily bring in votes but it sure does pull in a crowd during campaign events.

And the give-away tactic has not gone away. Candidates are still distributing grocery items in bags with their name tags, of course, and t-shirts, wall clocks, caps, pouches,  bags, wrist bands, mugs, pins/ badges, and then there are the pamphlets, posters, calendars, stickers, even tarpaulins. That is not so bad, I guess. But the worst give-away is money, a blatant gimmick to buy votes, and that is still going on.

The campaign gimmicks have been there, and will probably not change in the near future. But us voters can change. We can make sure that we become responsible voters by carefully choosing the right candidates who will lead us in the next three to six years towards a better Philippines.

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