Election campaign posters: The case of South Africa

Abstract

This chapter reviews the election posters of the major parties during the first 20 years of the South African democracy. It is assumed that political posters in a developing democracy should do more than canvas votes; they should also inform and motivate voters. Against this background it was investigated how the two main political issues on the poster agenda, crime and unemployment, were portrayed in the context of a young democracy. The focus on crime shifted to a focus on corruption, while unemployment was increasingly framed as an economic issue rather than a political issue. Furthermore, the focus was on how political parties referred to democratic values on posters. It was concluded that the importance to vote was emphasized more as the fear of a two-thirds African National Congress (ANC) majority started to subside. However, it would seem that political parties became more negative regarding the state of the democracy as time went by. Lastly, an overview is given of the role party leaders played in the poster campaigns, especially the smaller parties, which are often formed around a personality.