Branding Politics.

Since my last political post was such a success, (thanks to all 3 of you who read it), I’ve decided to take this in a direction that I know about – branding. All my comments are based on my personal opinions (duh) and do not reflect the policies or action of any of the mentioned political parties. </end disclaimer>

So, it’s election time in Singapore and we all know what that means. Our normal, carefully-landscaped towns will be plastered with party logos and faces. Much like this:

Good lord. There’s only so much a designer’s heart can take before I rip off the poster screaming, “No more drop shadow!!” (Dear po-po, please don’t arrest me, I’m not going to remove these posters. It’s just cynical wit) I have no idea why every political party in Singapore have the same damn posters – one with all the faces of their representatives, and another of their logo. And that’s it. In every town, every political party uses the same damn formula. You’d think that with the directive to move into a first world parliament, we’d at least try to look smart about it.

Needless to say, the ruling People’s Action Party goes for the same look at every print run – blurry background of the city/people with a tagline on the front. Thankfully, this time they have dropped the ridiculous 80′s photoshopping of feathered multi-racial faces. Oh, I’m not kidding about the feathering. To their credit, this has been their look and feel for years and they’re running with it. I genuinely wish someone would advise them on how to use their logo properly on a coloured background, without that feathering.

Then, there’s the contesting opposition party in my town, Singapore Democratic Alliance. This is their website.

Talk about a visual rock and a hard place. This website pains me. The complete lack of cohesion between the logo and the look and the feel is unsettling. I’m assuming this is obviously a template, which makes me feel bad for them but at the same time – a plain white blogpress with black fonts would have elevated their brand value 100 times over. This is not a simple case of “is this pretty?” or “would I pay $2 for this product?”. This question you ask yourself is “Do I want them in my government?” A political party is a product like any other – from your first point of contact with them, you need to know what they do, what they believe and if they’re good at it. After that, everything falls into place. The best branding is often the simplest because it gives the individual room to place themselves within your personality. This website makes me want to play World Warcraft or something. Horrendous.

This is a photo of a Worker’s Party team after Nomination Day, 27th April 2011. This is the perfect example of when an brilliantly simple idea transcends the visual appeal. They gave out umbrellas. Whoever thought of that idea should pat themselves on the back. 1. They’re lighter than carrying flags. 2. Your logo (which is imperative for Singapore voting) is ever-present 3. It offers the intangible feeling of protection 4. It was fucking hot, so they made sense.

So far, the party leading the way in political branding has to be Singapore Democratic Party. I’m pretty sure they have a professional designer/advisor working with them. I know this because nobody else would think of doing a favicon for a website. Not only that, they have actually used Facebook tabs to help expand their fan page. They’re also made excellent videos, have teaser lead-ins to all their videos, are consistent with their clothes. Perhaps the one area that they’re missing is response to comments on Facebook. That would definitely elevate their value because people don’t just want personality, they want personal too.

And now it’s time for the juggernaut. When Barack Obama was running for the 2008 election, his team came out with such a beautiful logo. It makes you feel so tender, hopeful and patriotic and I’m not even American! I loved that they employed such cohesive branding tactics – it made their campaign feel so elegant, so put-together and tight. Beyond the printed materials, he even had theme songs. Talk about a well-rounded campaign. Here’s a great article on the development of the 08 logo.

I think a lot of people would feel that the PAP has more money – thus equating more presence but that shouldn’t be the case. It’s the smallest budgets that inspires big ideas. I wish that in the last 5 years, these opposition parties would have incorporated solid design that moves by itself – that people want to use as a car decal, or a t-shirt or put in their storefont. The product is obviously the most important part but so’s the wrapping.

Those One Track Minds.

It’s coming close to Singapore’s General Elections. To many Singaporeans, this means absolutely nothing. I live in a country where I have never voted before in my life. Never. Not once. This would not be surprising if I was 5 years old, but I am 32. I have watched countless other election races take place in the world, and we’ve discussed them – the most exciting of course being the election of Barack Obama as the first man of colour to be President of the United States. Of course what he’s done with that – is a different story. The point is that I’ve never had the opportunity to participate and partake of elections within my own country. And there are many like me as well. Oh don’t be so quick to yell “dictatorship” – you have to watch what you say in Singapore – while we’re not a litigious nation, you can be sued for defamation by the government quicker than double-checking the spelling of “defamation”. It’s this nature of government that has led to many opposition leaders being, either incarcerated or fined a hefty sum (which then, by Singapore law, prevent them for running for election). This was not in 1965 by the way, this was 2008. In protest to rising cost of living, an opposition leader and 18 other people stood in front of our Parliament House in red t-shirts and were arrested for doing so. Arrested for peacefully standing? Arrested for the fashion faux pas of wearing the same clothes? Perhaps arrested for having a point of view? Oh heaven forbid we have independent thought. p.s. 18 people does not a a demonstration make.

I don’t have any fancy (read: boring) political figures, dates or debates to talk about. Instead, I want to talk about my feelings on the whole matter.

I left for Australia in 2004 to get my degree in Communication Design – which at time, was a subject not available in Singapore. I knew, even before I left, that I would return home. Singapore is undoubtedly my home – even though I am a minority. I could only afford to visit home once a year and when I did, it made me miss it more. I missed the affordable cost of living, the high level of safety, the cheap taxis (a ride in Australia to the club would be about AUD40 then!), the food (dear God, I missed the food) and the little things that make Singapore, Singapore. I got my degree and returned home in 2006 – to my family, to my friends, to the plethora of readily available food. Did I mention I missed the food?

That’s when things started to change. In the last 5 years, I’ve watched and felt my country change from a familiar friend to a stranger that I barely recognise. It’s the fastest, slowest change you can imagine feeling. Almost overnight, Electronic Road Pricing systems sprung into place, to prevent road congestion, while I was stuck in jams in raised-price taxis. Suddenly, the faces of Singapore no longer spoke the same Singlish language – I had problems ordering food and drinks in the local dining places. All too soon, I had to let 4 trains (at 2 minute intervals) pass me before I was finally able to physically shove myself into one, to get home for dinner at 8pm. Of course, this hasn’t happened overnight – this has been a growing (literally) problem over the last 5 years – and I hate to break it to you, but 5 years is a very brief time for such major developments in a small nation like Singapore.

I hate what has happened to my country. It doesn’t even feel like my country any more. It feels like a temporary island of wild government experiments to see, perhaps, how many people can fit on one tiny dot before it sinks or how much money you can make per square foot. Strange policies of home ownership and citizenship has been adopted, abandoned, rewritten and reinforced – all over this span of 5 years. And it all, inevitably and obviously, comes down to our singular ruling party system in Singapore. The regime of the People’s Action Party (PAP) has controlled Parliament since 1959. This means no-one else has had a crack at it. I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t feel like democracy to me.

The upcoming election in 2011 might give you the power to exercise your take on democracy. Why might? The government (ruled by the PAP regime) has created Group Representation Constituencies for our housing estates (think of it like Nebraska and Winsconsin). That’s all fine and dandy, till they start redrawing the state lines – to become Nebraska-Wisconsin. So, since there’s now an uber-state, you would be hard-pressed to find an opposition that can take on this space and it goes uncontested, and once again, under the same regime. This is the reason why I have never voted before. I don’t anticipate being able to this election either – so my vote/voice goes unspoken, unnoticed and uncounted.

For everyone else that can vote this election, I sincerely hope that they vote for wisely and be informed. Do not rely on our print media sources – instead, check out the opposition parties and see if there’s any policy that speaks to you. While there may not be much of a presence from them, it’s highly unlikely that you’ve met your governing ministerial team either.

There won’t be an overthrowing of the ruling party anytime soon, so they should really be getting their knickers out of a wad and relax. But there can be the opportunity for healthy debate and questioning in the Parliament – isn’t this the way it should always be? But of course, this is just how I feel.