Marketing is everything, especially when it comes to vying for the most powerful student government positions at CSULB.
Most students who aren’t busy looking at their cell phones or chitchatting have seen many of the different types of campaign posters on campus.
While it is hard to prove which candidate has had the most effective and persuasive posters, it is clear that the John Haberstroh and Jonathon Bolin’s re-election posters trump all.
“A vote for Jon is a vote for America” is the most memorable poster, in my opinion. While it says nothing about his platform, it lingers in the mind like the smell of freshly brewed coffee. It just doesn’t leave.
Rather than appear out-of-touch or just plain stupid, the poster is cliché. Clichés work, and I applaud them for their work.
Another great poster from John and Jon says, “Together, we gave over $7,000 of our own salaries to students … we plan to do it again.”
Students like money, especially when it can be given out in the form of usable scholarships. By illustrating their plan to continue donating money, John and Jon can easily win over on-the-fence students. As an avid car magazine reader, I pay particularly close attention to Porsche and Volkswagen ads because of their simplicity. The John and Jon posters, which usually consist of a picture and a few words of text, often look simple, professional and entertaining.
While most of the campaign posters fall into the “blah” category, it is easy to pick some of the worst.
I respect Sean Zent and Larry Toney for entering the often bloody arena, but I am dumbfounded by their out-of-touch, ridiculous posters.
“Even the squirrels are voting Sean & Larry,” reads one. Like the America-Bolin poster, it says nothing about their campaign.
Instead of coming across as cliché, however, the squirrel poster comes off as just plain stupid.
The duo’s other poster, “Running Mates,” a parody of “Step Brothers,” is also ineffective.
Every time I walk by the poster, I laugh because of how strange they look with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s hair. Rather than being impressed, I’m a little creeped out.
The posters for Jorge Soriano’s ticket are in the middle of the road. I do appreciate his use of the color green in his posters as a unifying theme. Rather than capitalize on the color, however, Soriano’s posters fall flat. A general lack of information, “Forward … Together,” cripples the message.
The basic truth of all campaign posters is that they are meant to be cheap, memorable and possess some sort of a unifying theme.
While I love the concept of campaign posters, I hope that people don’t vote based only on the posters and think of the platforms.
Shane Newell is a sophomore journalism major and an assistant city editor for the Daily 49er.